Wednesday was a fun-filled celebratory type of night for the Mavericks. Until rookie center Dereck Lively II sprained his left
ankle — again.
And until veteran forward Grant Williams sprained his right ankle.
Yep, the Mavs’ runaway 126-97 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers was tempered by second-half injuries to Lively and Williams. It put a damper on a night at American Airlines Center that saw the Mavs shoot 50 percent from the field and 43.3 percent from three-point land while managing to flip 21 Portland turnovers into 25 points.
Indeed, it was an all-around masterful performance by the Mavs to open a seven-game home stand which continues Friday with a rematch against the Blazers. But the win, which increased the Mavs’ record to 20-15, took a back seat to the unfortunate injuries to Lively and Williams.
In regards to the severity of those injuries, coach Jason Kidd said: “Ankle sprains. Mild. Getting treatment. We’ll see how they feel tomorrow.”
For Lively, he recently missed four games with a left ankle sprain he sustained at Portland on Dec. 16. On Wednesday, it was the same opponent and the same injury for Lively.
Injuries aside, Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving put a hurting on the Blazers with their powerful performance. Doncic collected 41 points, six rebounds and seven assists in 31 minutes, and Irving finished with 29 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals in 29 minutes
The one-two punch from Doncic and Irving were delivered in the first three quarters, since neither player played in the fourth quarter.
“A lot of great performances by our two stars to get us started,” Kidd said. “Kai didn’t wait tonight. He was aggressive. And then Luka was Luka.”
Doncic’s three-point play gave the Mavs a 27-16 lead with 4:14 left in the first quarter. He wound up pouring in 13 points in the first quarter, which concluded with the Mavs nursing a 35-25 lead.
Portland coach Chauncey Billups admitted the challenges are mostly difficult when it comes to squaring off against Doncic and Irving.
“We have to change up so many defenses on them,” Billups said. “You can throw anything and everything at Luka — and we always try — and he’s seen it. He has an answer for everything you throw at him.
“But that doesn’t mean you don’t throw it at him. You’ve got to just try every single night. You want to compete against him.”
A long bank shot followed by a three-pointer from Irving padded the Mavs’ lead to 45-29 with 9:36 remaining before halftime. For the Blazers, it was beginning of akin to trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube.
“Kyrie obviously presents a different challenge one-on-one with him being able to get where he wants to go,” Billups said. “He’s just an incredible scorer.
“Yeah, they put you in some tough spots, and then when it’s not them two, they’ve got shooting all over the floor. They just got a very good team, a very good balanced team.”
It was as if the Mavs, who also got 14 points from Tim Hardaway Jr. and 11 points from Jaden Hardy, were still angry from the 127-90 loss in Utah on Monday.
“(It was a) great response to what happened in Utah,” Kidd said. (It was) just what we talked about this morning and being able to be focused.
“I thought the ball movement was great. Defensively, again, (it) was really, really good.”
The Mavs held a 78-47 lead at the half and were still up, 102-74, after three quarters when they shut down Doncic and Irving for the rest of the game.
“I think it started at the tip of the game in setting the tone, setting our mentality in how we wanted to play for the rest of the game,” said Irving, who was 10-of-19 from the floor, including 4-of-8 from downtown. “I feel like when we played against the Jazz — including myself — I didn’t get off to a good start.
“So, I just wanted to take it upon myself to galvanize the group and stay aggressive in those first few possessions and really get a good feel of where my body is and where my mind is and just live with the results.”
The results dropped the Blazers to 9-24 on the season.
“It was rough,” Billups said. “It was rough. (It was) tough going all night.
“Luka had a special night. Kai had a special night. Dude just hit some incredible shots, man.”
Anfernee Simons, who scored 15 points for Portland, acknowledged the Mavs are going to be difficult for anyone to beat if Doncic and Irving are as productive as they were on Wednesday.
“Kyrie got it going early and Luka got it going early,” Simons said. “It’s going to be a long night if those dudes are playing and firing o
n all cylinders like that.
“Obviously, we kind of struggled offensively a little too, and that doesn’t add to it. It’s one of those games we have to watch and look over and see how we can adjust the next game we play. You know, just go back and adjust to the things we can do and try and take away.”
The Mavs were in such a groove that Doncic – he was 13-of-21 from the field, including 4-of-7 from three-point range — was able to execute his first dunk of the season.
“That was a dunk?,” Kidd said while laughing. “I’m joking. He was flying like Mike (Michael Jordan) tonight.
“He was up there pretty high. He’s going to tell you he double-pumped it, too. Or he cradled it.”
This was just the second game back for Irving after he missed 12 games while dealing with a right heel contusion. Even the Blazers noticed how flawless Irving looked.
“I just had to trust the hard work that I put in in the summertime and the work I put in day-to-day and let the results speak for themselves,” Irving said. “Tonight was one of those games where I felt like I had to inject myself into the rhythm and kind of force myself to get up-and-down, get a good sweat going and be able to exemplify the pace that we should be playing at. I feel like we did that.”
X: @DwainPrice
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