Jones, Irving were seeing eye-to-eye against Raptors

A mere six minutes into Wednesday’s 127-116 loss to the Toronto Raptors, Mavericks forward Derrick Jones Jr. had already scored nine points on four field goals in rapid fashion.

Three of those field goals came on dunks, and the other was a three-pointer. And all four of them, coincidently, came via assists from guard Kyrie Irving.

In explaining his early-game connection to Jones, Irving said: “D-Jones, he was running up and down the court and it’s easy to find somebody that’s picking up that pace and just playing alongside, especially at the start of the game. I just wanted to continue to give him confidence as well as I wanted to do that for my other teammates.

“But D-Jones, he’s been knocking down the shots and it’s easy to throw lobs to him. I just wanted to get him going early.”

Known as a player with incredible leaping abilities, Jones wound up scoring 15 points – all in the first half – against the Raptors. It’s the third time this season Jones has scored at least 15 points in a game, and that’s the most since he recorded eight 15-point games during the 2019-20 season when he was playing for the Miami Heat.

“Derrick is a pro,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. “He can play with stars, he can play with anybody. He understands how to play the game on both ends.

“He’s shooting the three well for us. He’s going to be open a lot of times just because Kai and Luka (Doncic) are going to get double-teamed. So far early here in the season he’s been able to knock them down, but he understands his role, he’s a pro, he comes to work every day, so we like what he’s doing so far.”

Here are the three takeaways from the Mavs’ 11-point loss to the Raptors.

RAPTORS WON THE PAINT BATTLE: With no Dereck Lively II to contend with, the Toronto Raptors had their way with the Mavs around the basket. They outscored the Mavs in the paint, 72-40. Even more telling, Raptors All-Star forward Pascal Siakam tallied 31 points. Except for a free throw he converted, the other 30 points Siakam scored were all inside the paint. The Mavs believe Lively – their promising seven-foot rookie center – would have made a huge difference had he been able to play. However, Lively missed the game due to a non-Covid illness.

DONCIC PASSES CP3: Mavs guard Luka Doncic put on an all-around performance with 31 points, seven rebounds, eight assists and four steals. This was the 233^rd game of Doncic’s illustrious career that he’s had a game where he’s scored at least 25 points, grabbed at least five rebounds and distributed at least five assists. That put him in sole possession of 25^th place on the NBA’s all-time list with this stat line – pulling him out of a tie with Chris Paul.

MAVS PILING ON THE POINTS: The Mavs continued to pile on the points this season. After scoring 116 points against the Raptors, the Mavs became the first team since the 2018-19 New Orleans Pelicans to open the season by scoring at least 110 points in their first eight games. That also extends the Mavs’ franchise record in this category. The Mavs currently are fourth in the NBA in scoring with 120.1 ppg, and have scored at least 124 points in half of the games they’ve played this season.

X: @DwainPrice