The Mavericks had 11 healthy players available for Friday’s game against Portland.
All 11 played. All 11 scored.
All 11 were in positive numbers when it came to the plus-minus stat.
That’s opposed to the Blazers, who also had 11 players see action with all 11 of them posting a negative number in the plus-minus stat.
This is what is known as a team victory.
There was no one-man wrecking crew for the Mavericks, although that’s nice to have anytime Luka Dončić is in your hip pocket.
But with Luka and a half-dozen others out with assorted maladies, the Mavericks banded together to get the job done in exemplary fashion as they whupped the Blazers 139-103 at American Airlines Center.
Kyrie Irving was the clear leader, but he was as much an orchestrator as much as a dominator. He got the Mavericks headed in the right direction early in the game and then let everybody do their thing and contribute.
These are the kind of games that put everybody in a better mood, especially somebody like Dončić, who had watched his teammates go 0-3 in the first three games he missed this season.
“It’s real good,” said Jaden Hardy. “I know we’re very excited about getting this win – just handling business and I feel like we did a good job of that.”
Speaking of Hardy, here’s a few other takeaways from the blowout win, which completed a 4-0 season series sweep of the Blazers.
Major night for Hardy: The second-year guard missed a triple double by the narrowest of margins, amassing 19 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. He also was part of a good-shooting night for the Mavericks as he was 3-of-7 from three-point range, where the Mavericks shot 44.7 percent as a team (17-of-38). It’s nights like this that get everybody thinking about what Hardy could do with heavier rotation minutes. But there’s a problem there. “We all believe he can play at a high level,” coach Jason Kidd said. “But he has some guys in front of him when Luka’s playing 40 minutes a night and Kai and other guys are playing big minutes. I think Hardy’s been patient and he’s shown that in the last couple games with the minutes. He was really good tonight.”
Home cooking: The Mavericks moved to 2-0 on this seven-game stay at AAC. But the price of poker goes up markedly the rest of the way. The Minnesota Timberwolves invade on Sunday evening (6:30 p.m. tip) and they remain atop the Western Conference standings. After that, the Mavericks have Memphis, New York and two games against New Orleans left on the home stand.
Ganging up on them: The Mavericks were the classic definition of “gang rebounders” against the Blazers. They had three players (Irving, Dwight Powell and Hardy) with nine rebounds each. And they won the glass battle 52-42. That hasn’t happened very often this season.
Strong numbers: The Mavericks haven’t always been great in fast-break points or points in the paint this season, but they dominated both against the Blazers. They had 64 points in the paint compared to 44 for the Blazers. They also outscored the visitors on the fast break 36-12.
X: @ESefko
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