To the untrained eye, what Boban Marjanovic did in the waning seconds of Wednesday’s game against San Antonio was as innocuous as an NBA play can get. But to the Dallas Mavericks, it was a stroke of genius.
At the time, the Mavs were clinging to a one-point lead over the Spurs, who were setting up shop with only 2.7 seconds remaining and having the 6-6 Keldon Johnson inbound the ball about three-quarters the length of the court away from the basket. But the Mavs quickly inserted Marjanovic into the game and had him employ his massive 7-4 frame as a huge distraction to Johnson.
The plan worked, as Johnson had all sorts of problems trying to find a teammate over the gigantic out-stretched arms of Marjanovic. And by the time Johnson’s long high-arching pass reached Dejounte Murray, he fumbled it and turned it over, and Dorian Finney-Smith grabbed it and dribbled out the clock to preserve the Mavs’ 109-108 victory on the road.
When he played for the Spurs during 2015-16, Marjanovic found himself in a similar situation when San Antonio played the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the playoffs.
“I was like, ‘OK, don’t cross this line, stay up on the ball,’ “ Marjanovic recalled. “This is like every time in my mind from that, I remember from a long time ago. I can’t cross the line.
“I try to disrupt the pass and make the ball not easy for the inbounder. I guess I’ve become like a professional stand-in-front-of-the-inbounder and make their life harder.”
Marjanovic definitely made life harder for the Spurs all night as he finished with 17 points and five rebounds in just 15 minutes. And every point was pivotal on a night when the Mavs were already without two of their rotation big men – Kristaps Porzingis (lower back tightness) and Maxi Kleber (left oblique strain).
“Everybody is going to look at the points (scored by Marjanovic),” coach Jason Kidd said. “But the last play of the game was huge for us to put him on the ball and make the pass as difficult as possible.
“You’ve got to win those close games, and he helped for sure tonight on the offensive end, and the defensive end. But that last play, it was big for us.”
During his playing days, Kidd turned the tables and executed a similar play over the out-stretched arms of Houston’s Yao Ming, who stand 7-6.
“That play is a little bit different, because it was on the other side of half court,” Kidd said. “This one (by Marjanovic) was three-quarters court. As the review happened, I think it helped us.
“To be able to sub to get Boban in to change the pass pattern that they were going to try to throw (helped the Mavs). Again, Bobi did a great job of making it go as high as possible to give us a chance to deflect it or intercept it. And the guys that were defending the play did a great job.”
Marjanovic was 8-of-10 from the field. And he certainly clogged the paint, made the Spurs think twice about coming inside, and helped the Mavs crawl back into the game in the third quarter after San Antonio built a 10-point lead.
“He’s been amazing,” said point guard Luka Doncic. “Always after the game, he’s positive. He does a great job being on the floor. He fights.
“We know he can give you buckets any time. He’s a walking double-double – we call him. Every time he enters the court he’s positive.”
With no Porzingis and Kleber, and with the Mavs on a back-to-back and playing their fifth game in seven days, Marjanovic knew he would have to come up big.
“There were guys really tired,” he said. “And they really gave a big effort. I see them sitting in the locker room like they’re really exhausted.
“They’re really giving 100 percent. But the main thing is we stepped up here to play. It’s not easy to win, and the guys did a great job. I’m proud of my teammates because they gave a big effort yesterday (against the Miami Heat) and today, and of course they were ready to go.”
So was Marjanovic.
“We’re down not just some bigs, but we lost Reggie (Bullock to a facial injury) there early in the game and Boban stepped in,” Kidd said. “He’s delivered every time he’s played. We’ve got to find time for him in that rotation.”
PORZINGIS SITS AGAIN: Kristaps Porzingis sat out his fifth straight game Wednesday night due to lower back tightness.
Kidd said he’s hopeful Porzingis will be able to play in Saturday’s home game against the Boston Celtics.
“We just want him to be healthy and ready to go,” Kidd said. “He did some work today. Hopefully he feels better and then hopefully Saturday he’s ready to go. There is no timeline when this happens. I think we just take it day-by-day.”
As expected, forward Maxi Kleber also sat out his second consecutive game with a left oblique strain. Kleber sustained his injury seven minutes into Sunday’s game against the Sacramento Kings.
On Tuesday, Kidd said Kleber will be re-evaluated in seven-to-10 days.
Briefly: Coach Jason Kidd said the Mavs have to get better at attacking the paint. “I think we can do that, because we’re dead last, so there’s room for improvement there,” Kidd said. “You’re going to make shots in this league and you’re going to miss shots. But right now we’re getting a lot of wide open looks. They just haven’t fallen for us. Besides that, the other concern is free throws. I think we’re 12th in the league getting to the line and we’re at the bottom of the pack making them. If you would have talked to us about that this summer before the season, we would be one of the better shooting teams from the free throw line, so that’s a concern that we’ve got to get better.”
The Mavs went into Wednesday’s game 27th in the NBA in free throw shooting at 70.1 percent. The only teams worse are Houston (68.7 percent), Denver (67 percent) and San Antonio (66.4 percent). The Mavs also were 26th in three-point shooting at 31.5 percent, ahead of only Cleveland (30.2 percent), Denver (30.1 percent), Oklahoma City (29.3 percent) and Detroit (26.7 percent). “We’re shooting a lot of threes, a lot of wide open looks,” Kidd said. “They just haven’t fallen for us.” . . . The Mavs entered Wednesday’s game second in the league behind the Los Angeles Clippers (12) with the fewest turnovers per game at 12.4 per contest. The Mavs had 19 turnovers against the Spurs, but the miscues didn’t hurt them in the end.
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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