When the Dallas Mavericks went to bed Wednesday night, not only did they do so knowing they had clinched a playoff
berth for the third straight season, they also knew they had climbed into the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.
In other words, Wednesday turned out to be a terrific night for the Mavs.
They went into Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse and defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers, 120-112. They also clinched a spot in the postseason thanks to Toronto’s 125-102 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
In addition, the Mavs – they play in Washington on Friday — also claimed possession of the No. 3 seed in the West thanks to the Phoenix Suns’ 107-103 triumph over the Golden State Warriors. The Mavs and Warriors have identical 48-29 records, but Dallas would have the No. 3 seed if the playoffs started today by because of its 3-1 record against Golden State this season.
High seeds are worthy accomplishments and a sense of pride for any team. However, the Mavs, who are 19 games over .500 for the first time since March 18, 2015 when they were 44-25, have their eyes set on much higher goals.
“I’m not worried about Minnesota losing or Denver losing or Golden State losing,” coach Jason Kidd said. “We’re just trying to take care of what’s in front of us right now, and that was Cleveland.
“Going into Washington – we’ll be off tomorrow – I’ll talk more with the staff about the timing of starting to talk about home court, and that might be something that we can control is home court, not our opponent. But can we fight for home court? And that’s probably where we’ll start and end here in the next couple of days because we can’t start watching the scoreboard and seeing who’s winning and who’s losing.”
The Mavs won Wednesday because of strong showings from Luka Doncic and Dorian Finney-Smith, and because of a rock-solid performance from their defense in the second half that slammed the door on any thoughts the Cavs (42-34) had of pulling off an upset. Doncic tallied 20 of his 35 points in a third quarter when the Mavs outscored the Cavs, 39-22, en route to turning a 67-61 halftime deficit into a 100-89 lead entering the fourth quarter.
In scoring those 20 third-quarter points, Doncic was 8-of-12 from the fields, including 2-of-3 from three-point range. As a team in the third quarter, the Cavs had just 22 points.
Doncic, who also finished the night with nine rebounds and 13 assists, said: “I just tried to be a little bit more aggressive (in the third quarter) than in the first half.”
In addition, Doncic was fueled by the fact that a large contingent from his home country of Slovenia were in attendance at a game that assured the Mavs of having a winning record (21-17) on the road this season.
“I know a lot of Slovenians live here (in Cleveland),” Doncic said. “I saw a lot of Slovenians out there and it’s always amazing to see their support.
“When the home people are out here to see you, obviously you want to put on a show for them.”
And that’s exactly what Doncic did as he had eight assists in the first quarter, equaling his career-high for any quarter.
“He wanted to put on a good show,” Kidd said. “Not just a show, but he came to work and that’s what he does.
“He comes to work and we get to see it on a daily basis, and he came up one rebound short of a triple-double. He knew when to get off the
ball and when to attack. He’s playing at a very high level for us right now and we need that.”
And with Spencer Dinwiddie (right knee injury recovery) sitting out this game, the Mavs also desperately needed what they got from Finney-Smith. The six-year veteran had a career-high 28 points and hit 10-of-16 shots, including 6-of-12 from downtown.
Finney-Smith scored 17 of his points in the second half. That includes a highlight reel moment late in the third quarter when Jalen Brunson, Maxi Kleber and Reggie Bullock all dove on the floor for a loose ball near midcourt.
Kleber wound up with the ball, then passed it to Brunson, who passed it to Finney-Smith for an uncontested dunk. A short time later, Finney-Smith followed that up with back-to-back three-pointers and suddenly the Mavs were staring at a 97-87 lead.
“Shout out to Luka,” Finney-Smith said. “He kept finding me and everybody kept yelling at me to shoot it. In the first half I turned down one in the corner and they were on me.
“(Tuesday) night (against the Los Angeles Lakers) it was Reggie’s night. Tonight it was my night. (Defenses have) got to make a decision. 
They’ve got to pick who they’re going to trap, who they’re going leave — either me or Reggie.”
Kidd was a big fan of what he got from Finney-Smith.
“I know defensively we talk about him a lot, but offensively him and Reggie have been able to shoot the ball,” Kidd said. “And I thought he just didn’t shoot it from the corners, but he was able to put the ball on the floor and get to the basket, and that’s something that we’ve talked about expanding his game.”
Brunson also played a large role for the Mavs as he tallied 18 points, grabbed five boards and dispensed six assists. And Dwight Powell finished with 15 points and five rebounds.
With the Cavs piling up 30 points in the first quarter and 37 more in the second quarter, Kidd wasn’t exactly proud of the way Cleveland was badgering his team’s defense. So his halftime speech was more of less about trying to get his players on the same page.
“I can’t say that I was in there screaming and yelling, because that’s not who I am,” Kidd said. “We just talked about are we going to
participate on the defensive end. I think just at halftime there’s no panic in that locker room.
“We have a quick discussion of what’s happening. I’ve always asked what did they see. That’s my first question to those guys. I can easily tell them what I see, but I need to hear what they’re seeing, and then we go from there.”
And from there, the Mavs started playing the brand of basketball that has enabled them to post an impressive 32-11 record since Dec. 31 and lock up their 18th playoff berth in the last 22 years.
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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