Well this was a weird game. After adjusting to the high paced, 3-point shooting wave across the league, the short-handed Mavs went into Memphis where everything slowed down. Unable to get a player over 20 points, the Mavs would score their season-low of 88 total points in the loss.
Stat of the Game: The Mavericks missed 58 shots on the night resulting in a 34 percent field goal percentage.
Mavs Box: Dennis Smith Jr. led the way in scoring with 19 points and five assists while DeAndre Jordan put up a massive 17 points and 20 rebounds. Doncic and Barnes combined for 25 points.
Out: Dirk Nowitzki, Wesley Matthews, J.J. Barea, Dwight Powell
Read the full game recap here.
In a special night where Dirk Nowitzki received a key to the city, the Mavs welcomed a feisty Nets team without one of their best players in Caris LeVert. Much different than the Memphis game, Dallas shot 48 percent from the field and 40 percent from the 3-point line.
The story of the game was the long time duo of J.J. Barea and Devin Harris off the bench.
Stat of the Game: Barea and Harris combined to score 36 points.
Mavs Box: Luka Doncic finished with 21 points and nine rebounds while Harrison Barnes led the team in scoring with 28 points. DeAndre Jordan recorded another double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds.
Out: Dirk Nowitzki, Wesley Matthews, Dwight Powell
Read the full game recap here.
Another fun Saturday night in the AAC resulted in another win against another team that was in the Conference Finals last season. Even though the Celtics are struggling to start the season, the only rotational piece they were missing was Gordon Hayward. Emotions took center stage at time, but the Mavs proved to be the more composed team in the end.
Luka Doncic went toe-to-toe with Kyrie Irving and J.J. Barea led the bench unit once again in what would be their sixth straight win at home.
Stat of the Game: The Mavericks scored 32 points in the first quarter. A strong counter to their slow starts to begin the season.
Mavs Box: J.J. Barea and Harrison Barnes both scored 20 points in the game while Luka Doncic and Wesley Matthews followed behind with 15 points apiece. DeAndre Jordan once again recorded a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
Out: Dirk Nowitzki, Dennis Smith Jr., Dwight Powell
Read the full game recap here.
The Luka Doncic fake on Kyrie Irving is a close second, but I am going with Dennis Smith Jr.’s poster over Ed Davis in the win over the Nets on Wednesday night. Smith Jr. was battling a wrist injury, but he put the pain aside for this monster dunk.
Can you give the player of the week title to a player who missed one of the three games that week? I believe so.
First off, the game that Barea missed was a Memphis contest in which the whole game was ugly. Not a single player scored over 19 points and only one player was a positive plus/minus in the game.
Over the next two games, Barea would dominate for the Mavericks. In the win over Brooklyn, Barea would come off the bench and score 18 points for the Mavericks on 57 percent shooting from the field. He would also record seven assists and was a +9 overall in the game.
The win over Boston was the cherry on top of his magnificent start to the season. Coming off the bench and finishing the game, Barea would go toe-to-toe with Kyrie Irving by finishing with 20 points and eight assists on 56 percent shooting from the field.
In the second half of the Celtics game, a technical foul was called on the Celtics that obviously resulted in the Mavericks shooting a free throw. For the first time in his career, DeAndre Jordan was sent to the line to shoot the technical free throw. He missed the free throw, but after the game Rick Carlisle gave a solid quote on why Jordan was picked for the free throw.
Humor aside, the remarkable improvement of Jordan on the free throw line is a major story on the season. Missing three free throws on Saturday lowered his percentage, but his 78 percent is still a 20 percent increase from last season.
The π has been the π to this franchise for more than two decades. Now he has a π to the city. pic.twitter.com/lHzauVwM3I
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) November 22, 2018
During the week of Thanksgiving, the Mayor of Dallas presented Dirk Nowitzki with a key to the city. It was a cool moment of gratitude to Nowitzki for everything he has done for the city of Dallas over the years. You can watch the full halftime ceremony in the above tweet.
I got the key, key, key…. pic.twitter.com/qROZUnJZcy
— Dirk Nowitzki (@swish41) November 22, 2018
This afternoon @hbarnes & his wife Brittany are giving away turkeys & casseroles to families at The Belleview Apartments in South Dallas! #SeasonOfGiving #MavsCare pic.twitter.com/wTq4XZ78oz
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) November 20, 2018
Say it ainβt so! Thanks for everything, AB! And congrats on your hall of fame career!
— Dirk Nowitzki (@swish41) November 20, 2018
https://twitter.com/luka7doncic/status/1065274894571712512
Preesh OG
— Dennis Smith Jr. (@Dennis1SmithJr) November 26, 2018
“He arrived as a shy kid unsure of exactly what would befall him as he started a new life in a foreign place.
Yes, we’re talking about Luka Doncic, not Dirk Nowitzki, although it applied to him, too, way back when…”
Read the full story here.
The first matchup for Luka Doncic and James Harden. Both Texan teams are hovering around the eight seed in the west.
Another matchup vs. LeBron and the Lakers in Los Angeles. This time around the Mavericks get to see their old friend, Tyson Chandler.
Currently sitting with the best record in the Western Conference heading into Monday, the Clippers are one of the better surprises of the season.
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