After Friday’s fourth-quarter altercation with the Los Angeles Clippers’ Terance Mann and others, P.J. Washington struck a pose.
And not just any pose.
His face was emotionless. His arms crossed. He stared at the Clippers’ bench as if to say: Come and take it.
The Clippers didn’t. Or couldn’t.
A few moments later, the 6-7 Washington mixed it up with Russell Westbrook and both players ended up being ejected with their second technical fouls.
But it was the stance, the pose, that got everybody’s attention and became a viral photo on social media.
“I thought he was with Run-DMC for a minute,” coach Jason Kidd said of the hip hop band whose heyday was in the ‘80s and ‘90s. “I didn’t know what to do. I expected someone was going to come out and start break dancing.
“A sign of strength, for sure. And P.J. has that. Run DMC has to be somewhere around that.”
Washington was coming to the defense of Luka Dončić when the action got animated in the fourth quarter of the Mavericks’ 101-90 victory in Game 3, which put them up 2-1 in the best-of-seven first-round playoff series.
He took a swipe from Westbrook, who had flung Dončić around while trying to play defense against him.
To see his teammates, and Washington in particular, rally around Luka for protection and/or support was impressive.
“Trying to set a tone,” Washington said to ESPN about the stance he took. “Always got to protect 77 (Luka’s number) at all costs. Obviously, it was a hard foul . . . and I just had to step into it.”
Asked if Washington has embraced something akin to an enforcer’s role, Kidd said: “We’ve enjoyed his embracing of everything defensively and offensively since he’s been here. We’re asking him to do everything, not just play defense or shoot threes.”
The interesting part of the dust-up is that the Mavericks and Clippers probably know that’s not the last time tempers will flare in this series.
It’s only three games into it. And the Mavericks know that the Clippers are going to use whatever means necessary to get back into the win column after back-to-back losses.
“As a team, we’ve talked about that, keeping your composure,” Kidd said. “We can’t afford to lose anybody, understanding we got to play our game. And whatever happens outside of that, let it be our opponent. That’s something we talked about before and we’ll continue to keep talking about it.”
As Kyrie Irving said, there’s a lot of things that happen in a playoff game when there’s a lot of provoking going on.
“It’s a different style of basketball when you get to the playoffs,” he said. “It gets a little extra chippy. You’re seeing the true competitive side of guys. And you got to be able to control it. That’s the key to all of this.
“If you’re going to dish it out, you better be prepared for somebody to dish it back to you. You just got to pick and choose your battles wisely. Just focus on big picture. Don’t get kicked out of the game. But if you are, then make it worth your while and make sure we’re winning.”
Here’s our other takeaways from Friday’s impressive Game 3 win:
The defense never rests: The numbers told the story for the Mavericks at the defensive end of the court. They outscored the Clippers in the paint 52-38. They had more fast-break points (22-15). And they limited the Clippers to 70 shots from the field (compared to 86 for the Mavreicks. That’s what happens when you force 19 turnovers and block seven shots. And the Clippers didn’t have anybody who particularly got rolling offensively. Nobody took more thn 13 shots for them. “We definitely weren’t perfect,” Kyrie Irving said. “I feel like we did some great things and we can celebrate that. But overall we know we have to keep that hunger in side of us.”
Irving’s impact goes beyond scoring: At halftime, Kyrie Irving had just two points. And yet, the Mavericks were plus-15 when he was on the floor. Kidd said it was a testament to how Irving plays the game. “He had a big impact without scoring,” Kidd said. “And then in the second half, when they go on a run, he answers the call by making a big three. I think just his calming effect (is big). He’s never in a rush. He’s never going to panic. And the guys trust him out there on the floor.” Irving said being patient on the floor is something he’s learned the hard way over time. “There are things I struggled with as a young player, especially in high-intense moments,” he said. “If you look up at the scoreboard, which a lot of us happen to do, and if you don’t see your point total looking normal, you can psyche yourself out of the game and be in a position mentally where you’re not able to impact positively. If you look at some of the greatest players in history, some of their low moments, they didn’t score much, but they had a huge impact on the game. I try to have that same approach and allow my physical talents play out in the right time and right situation. It’s about winning the game at the end of the day.”
All for one: It was the first home playoff game for rookie Dereck Lively II and he responded with 13 points and two blocked shots. He said the lob dunks that returned to the Mavericks’ arsenal were particularly gratifying for the way the sold-out American Airlines Center responded. “Everybody in the arena was yelling and it felt like everybody in there wanted us to win as much as the whole team did,” Lively said. “To have that much energy behind us just makes us want to play that much harder.”
X: @ESefko
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