As Jason Kidd said before the dust settled from Kyrie Irving’s outrageous game-winner on Sunday, “Playoff basketball has arrived a little early.”
And the Mavericks showed they are ready for it, which is our primary takeaway from the 107-105 victory.
Consider what happened before Irving’s off-hand shot from 21 feet nestled into the net at the buzzer against the defending champion Denver Nuggets.
The Mavericks shot just 9-of-35 (25.7 percent) from three-point range. In other words, it’s the kind of game that they would not have won two months ago.
That’s the equivalent of being able to hit the curveball in the major leagues. And it’s something the Mavericks needed to see for themselves.
But here’s what else was different: They outrebounded Denver 59-37. They won points in the paint 62-38. They had 19 fast-break points to 11 for the Nuggets. And their 23 second-chance points were 17 more than Denver could muster.
In short, the Mavericks played like they belonged. And then some.
“I can say it after the game, coming to the arena, going against the defending champs, you know it’s going to be a tough one,” Irving said. “We dropped the last game (at Oklahoma City), we’re kind of fighting for the sixth spot. It’s on your mind. And as a competitor, you want to play well.
“And I feel like we answered that call the majority of the game. We made some mistakes, which is going to happen, but I feel like we were very resilient. We have the mentality that we have more work to do. We’re not satisfied with just being competitive with some of the best teams in the West. We want to beat them. We gave ourselves a chance to prove that and we were successful.”
Thanks to Irving’s heroics. His shot was as tough as they come when talking about buzzer-beating game-winners. It wasn’t nearly as long as Max Strus’ 60-foot heave in Cleveland that broke the Mavericks’ heart on Feb. 27. But it was a harder shot in that it was contested and with Irving’s left hand. He’s a natural right-hander.
And when it was over, he said the Mavericks have the ability to make some noise in the final 14 games of the regular season and the playoffs.
“I feel like we match up with pretty much anybody well, especially on the defensive end,” he said. “We have the ability to switch one through five and I feel like we’ve consistently worked on our communication we have and our trust. And we also have the skill set offensively to dominate teams.
“If we score over 15 fast-break points, it’s going to be a long night for any team.”
That doesn’t guarantee a win. But it does ensure that the Mavericks are competitive. And now we know they can hit the curveball, too.
Here’s our other takeaways from the clutch win over the Nuggets:
Maxi, the fuse: If you look at the box score, you’re going to assume Maxi Kleber had a lousy game against the Nuggets. You would assume wrong. He had no points and the Mavericks were a minus-8 when he was on the court for 21 minutes. But he was the trigger man on the sideline out-of-bounds play that produced Luka Dončić’s three-pointer that tied the game at 105 and on Irving’s game-winner. Don’t underestimate the challenge of igniting a game-saving or game-winning play with the proper throw-in pass. “Maxi, to be able to get the ball in was big,” coach Jason Kidd said. “I don’t know where we rank in clutch (games), but it’s probably up there and being able to have two of the best, it starts with the inbounds, being able to have someone who is confident to maybe hold it long enough to get someone open or throw the perfect pass. I thought he threw a great pass to Luka for a catch-and-shoot, which you don’t normally get that opportunity. But to be able to execute late is hopefully going to help us as the journey continues in March and April.”
MVP lockdown: The Mavericks don’t always have defensive chops, but they did on this day. They limited Nikola Jokic, probably the MVP favorite, to 16 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. He shot just 6-of-16 from the field. All of those numbers are more than satisfactory against the Nuggets’ big man. “Denver dominates the paint and I think they only got 38 (points in the paint) with Joker and those guys,” Kidd said. “I thought P.J., being able to put a four on Joker and have our five roam and protect the rim I thought was big with Gafford and D-Live. I thought those two did a really good job of executing the game plan. And then being able to rebound out of that. I thought we did a great job rebounding the ball.”
X: @ESefko
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