Here’s our top takeaways from Friday’s 122-106 win over Orlando.
The offense is cooking: When you shoot 51.2 percent from the field, 39.5 percent from 3-point range and 80.8 percent from the free-throw line, you’ve had a terrific offensive night. It was so good that the Mavericks could even overlook the 16 turnovers they had. They have been No. 1 in the NBA in offensive efficiency virtually all season. It’s become pretty clear that this team, on occasion, can simply outscore people. That won’t happen very often come playoff time, but it’s a nice luxury to have at this time of the season.
KP looking good at the center spot: This was the second game in a row that Kristaps Porzingis has started at center with Dorian Finney-Smith filling in the power-forward slot in the opening lineup. It’s hard to argue with the results. Porzingis has averaged 26.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 5 assists in the two games. It’s a small sample size, but it’s been beautiful to watch so far. “Playing that five position, I get the ball more and it comes through me,” Porzingis said. “I’m able to make some plays. It just comes natural to me.” It’s also interesting that, when the game got tight in the third quarter, the ball found its way to Porzingis for an isolation on the wing, which he turned into two quick points to stop what had been some considerable bleeding for the Mavericks before that. “I just want to be aggressive when I do the things I’m capable of doing on offense,” he said. “And when the ball comes to me, I’m ready to go to work.”
Maximum power: Maxi Kleber had been a little disappointed with the way he finished the pre-All-Star break stretch of the season. He had shot 37 percent from the field in the final six games before the break. After refreshing his legs and his mind for a week, Kleber returned with a vengeance, scoring a career-best 26 points off the bench against the Magic. He had 17 of those points in the second half, when he hit six of seven shots, including three 3-pointers. The Mavericks were a plus-10 after halftime when Kleber played his 11 minutes.
The defense showed up: The Mavericks have been middle of the road defensively this season, but they were way better than that against the Magic. Either that, or Orlando simply isn’t very good offensively. Either way, the Mavericks held the Magic to 39.4 percent shooting. Included was 9-of-43 (20.9 percent) from 3-point range. They were just 3-of-22 (13.6 percent) from long range in the first half, when the Mavericks went up by 12 points. As Rick Carlisle often says, playing from behind is no way to make a living in the NBA and the Magic found that out Friday, just as the Mavericks have at times this season.
Dealing with the back-to-back: The minutes ran up a bit for Doncic and Porzingis, both of whom were at 34 minutes. It wouldn’t be a shocker to see Porzingis sit against the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday night, although Carlisle has been consistent in saying that he will handle those decisions on a case-by-case basis. Expect the Hawks to try to crank up the pace and get into a track meet with the Mavericks. Usually, that’s fine with them. We’ll see how that goes if it develops Saturday night.
Twitter: @ESefko
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