To get a credible gauge on what to expect from the Dallas Mavericks each and every game, look no farther than what they’re able to accomplish in the first quarter.
While producing a 42-30 overall record during this truncated 72-game season, the Mavs were an NBA-best 27-0 when they outscored their opponents in the first quarter this year. That means they posted a less than average 15-30 record when they either lost the first period or the first quarter ended in a tie.
What this means in the grand scheme of things is obviously open for debate. But from the Mavs’ standpoint, getting out of the gate and cracking the whip from the beginning has been their most guarded recipe for success.
“I don’t really look too much into those types of statistics, honestly,” center/forward Dwight Powell said. “But I guess if I had to speak to that specific one, that just comes to a mindset.
“I think that might be just a checkpoint in a series of actions, but I think the game obviously is won throughout. But getting off to a good start is important to us.”
Coach Rick Carlisle has preached all season about the importance of getting off to a good start and all of the ramifications – positive and negative – that comes down the pike whenever that happens.
“Good starts are important to us.” Carlisle said. “That’s obvious. That stat is an extreme stat.
“There are no guarantees with anything in this league, but one guarantee is if you consistently have bad starts you’re going to lose games. We’ve made some progress in this area — we’ve got to continue to work at it.”
Last year the Mavs were 31-11 when they outscored their opponents in the first quarter, and just 12-21 when they lost the first quarter or when the first period ended in a tie. Thus, the Mavs are hoping for a rapid-like start when they open Game 1 of their best-of-seven first-round playoff series against the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday at 3:30 pm. at the Staples Center in LA.
Game 2 will also be in Los Angeles on Tuesday at 9:30 p.m. before the series shifts to American Airlines Center for Games 3 and 4 at 8:30 p.m. on May 28 and May 30, respectively. If necessary, Game 5 will be in LA on June 2, Game 6 in Dallas on June 4 and a decisive Game 7 in LA on June 6.
“Playing the Clippers, we know it’s going to be a physical game,” forward Dorian Finney-Smith said. “We know their plays and they’re going to know our plays. We know that teams are going to make adjustments.
“We just got to play basketball and go out there and be the best team on the court. We just got to come out with that edge. Whenever we come out with that edge from the beginning we’re a tough team to beat.”
The Mavs already know the Clippers are preparing to come out with that edge from the beginning. So they prefer to beat them to the punch – and win the first quarter in the process.
“I suppose that (undefeated record when winning the first quarter) stat might speak to some sort of emotional preparation in terms of coming out and delivering the first punch and battling through that first quarter and maintaining that consistency production-wise, and especially defensive,” Powell said. “But at the end of the day we’re going to have to compete, and I think regardless of what the first quarter score is, it’s going to be a full 48 minutes of a battle every single night.
“And we have to go in with the mentality that regardless of if we’re up in the first quarter, we still have three more quarters that we have to win. And if we’re down in the first quarter, that doesn’t mean the game is over.”
To Powell’s point, in Game 4 in the first round of the playoffs against the Clippers last summer, the Mavs lost the first quarter, 34-24. However, they wound up winning the game in overtime, 135-133, in dramatic fashion on a 3-pointer at the buzzer by point guard Luka Doncic.
“Yes, we want to get a great start,” Carlisle said. “Sometimes you don’t win the quarter, but you’re doing good things and you’re playing the right way and you’re playing with presence and you’re playing unselfishly and you’re making great effort.
“In those situations you can survive. You have a better chance of surviving a scoring deficit first quarter than otherwise.”
The Western Conference’s No. 5-seeded Mavs, no doubt, are hoping to survive against a Clippers’ squad that obviously preferred to play Dallas in the first round of the playoffs rather than going up against the No. 6-seeded Portland Trail Blazers. Had the Clippers won either one of their final two regular season games against the lowly Houston Rockets and the equally lowly Oklahoma City Thunder, they would have faced Portland in the first round and the Mavs would have been matched up against Denver.
“We know it’s going to be exciting, we know that it’s going to be a war,” guard Tim Hardaway Jr. said. “We just got to do a great job of just staying within ourselves, staying within the system that the coach provides for us on both ends of the floor and just go out there and compete.”
And apparently do whatever is necessary to outscore the Clippers in the first quarter, since it appears to be a prelude for what transpires the rest of the game. However, the Mavs don’t want to totally depend on their success in the first quarter as a gauge for winning the game.
“It’s kind of an interesting stat to kind of analyze retrospectively,” Powell said. “But I don’t think it’s predictive while you’re playing in the game.
“I think we have to always remain locked in and compete for 48 (minutes).”
Twitter: @DwainPrice
Share and comment