If ever there was a clear snapshot of Dwight Powell’s basketball life, it came on the just-completed three-game trip.
Here were the Maverick center’s scoring lines in the three games: 22, 0, 13, all of which were intertwined.
The night he had at Utah on Friday is why he sometimes endures games like the one he had Sunday at Golden State.
Against the Jazz, Powell was dared to score. And he did, rolling up 22 points, which tied his season high. The Mavericks didn’t win that game. But they were in position to do so largely because of Powell’s work in the pick and roll with Luka Dončić.
In the next game, the Warriors were determined to smother Dončić and not let him make the lob pass to Powell for easy shots at the rim, which was effective at Utah.
The Warriors clearly watched the tape of how Powell roamed free against the Jazz.
Which led to his zero-point night against the Warriors, who showed why they are the No. 1-rated defensive team in the NBA.
But all that attention to the pick-and-roll freed up teammates to have a bit more space to operate. And the Mavericks scored a huge come-from-behind win.
Finally, on Tuesday against the Los Angeles Lakers, Powell faced a defense that was perhaps making him an afterthought, which was a mistake. Powell made all four of his shots, including a couple of rim-jarring dunks, and also raked down seven rebounds in 21 minutes of a solid victory.
An offense based on the pick-and-roll, like the Mavericks employ, is predicated on a teammate, usually a big man, setting a screen for Dončić and letting him decide where the offense goes from there.
Powell makes his living setting those screens. It’s a thankless job at times, like at Golden State. But it also can pay huge dividends for Powell and the Mavericks.
“He understands his role,” coach Jason Kidd said of Powell. “And he plays his role to the best that he can on a nightly basis. He’s always going to be under the radar, especially with Luka and (Jalen) Brunson probably getting a lot of the attention.
“He just comes to work. He does all the little things. Back in the day, it was called all the dirty work. Now, he does all the little things that help us win.”
Which they hope to continue doing on a four-game home stand that starts Thursday against Golden State.
Powell doesn’t mind in the slightest being under the radar. He’s turned his role as an energy supplier and dirty-work-doer into a much-needed niche for the Mavericks, who rewarded Powell with a three year contract extension worth $33-million that runs through the 2022-23 season.
Powell’s precise work in the pick-and-roll is a big reason why the Mavericks value him so much.
“The biggest thing with the pick-and-roll with Luka is setting the screen in the way he wants it at different times of the game depending on how they’re covering him,” Powell said. “Then, it’s just being ready for opportunity because he’s going to find the guy that has the best opportunity to score, whether that’s the roller, the kick or himself or whatever.”
Powell’s attention to detail is a big asset in the success of the play within the Mavericks’ offense.
It’s also a sign that he’s continuing to get better after his torn Achilles injury in 2019-20. He said from the start that the goal was not to come back as good as he was before the injury, but better.
He’s certainly trending in that direction, Kidd said.
“Coming from injury, he’s comfortable, you can see that he’s played at a high level and he understands what we’re asking him to do on both ends,” Kidd said. “And he’s doing very well for us right now.”
Even if the stat lines don’t always show it.
Twitter: @ESefko
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