OK, so the Mavericks are 3-0 for the first time in nearly 20 years.
Is it a big deal? Or no?
It says here that it’s a big deal for one particular reason. They are 2-0 on the road.
Since Luka Dončić – or at least, after his rookie season – the Mavericks have had solid success on the road. They were 23-14 in 2019-20. They 21-15 the following season and 23-18 in 2021-22, when they went to the Western Conference finals.
They made the playoffs each of those seasons.
Last season? They were 15-26.
Banking wins on the road is one of the surest ways to make sure you’re not sweating the final weeks of the regular season trying to make the playoffs or even the play-in games.
OK, so they have played a San Antonio team that is rebuilding around a potential superstar in rookie Victor Wembanyama and a Memphis team without Ja Morant.
Doesn’t matter. You take wins on the road and put them under the “priceless” category. The old rule of thumb is try to break even (or above) on the road and dominate at home.
The Mavericks are off to a great start toward that goal.
Here’s our takeaways from the 125-110 win at Memphis on Monday.
Dialing long distance: Give the Mavericks credit for being ready to start the season with a hot shooting eye. They have been very good from long range so far, particularly so against the Grizzlies, when they canned 23-of-47 triples for 48.9 percent. For the season, they now are No. 3 in the league at 40.8 percent (53-of-130). Of course that’s a small sample size. But most everybody has been contributing from distance. And we still haven’t seen a sizzle from Seth Curry or Kyrie Irving. And you know they are out there.
The forgotten end of the court: Nobody likes to talk about it, but the Mavericks played some uncommonly good defense in the last three quarters against the Grizzlies. They limited Memphis to 74 points in those 36 minutes. That qualifies as suffocating in today’s NBA. “Our defense, even though it’s going to show we gave up 110, I thought the guys did a really good job or executing the game plan and limiting them to one shot,” coach Jason Kidd said. “This is a team that crashes the boards.” And, by the way, the Mavericks outrebounded the Grizzlies 48-44. That’s the second time in three games they’ve outrebounded their opponent.
Oh, by the way: We probably ought to mention No. 77. Luka Dončić had 35 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists, so this was no pitty-pat triple-double. He now has two 30-point triple-doubles in three games. He became just the third player in NBA history to do that, joining Oscar Robertson (each of Cincinnati’s first three games in 1961-62) and Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City’s second and third games in 2016-17). Luka has been fantastic, to say the least, through the first three games. The one he didn’t have a triple-double in, he had 49 points against Brooklyn in the home opener. And yes, he’s averaging 36.7 minutes per game so far. But he’s in the best shape of his Mavericks career, and there will be some games at some point when his services aren’t needed for that many minutes.
X: @ESefko
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