This was a meeting of two of the top-seven scorers in NBA history in Dirk Nowitzki and LeBron James. Both have surpassed the 30,000-point plateau, making it only the second unique pairing of two members of the 30K club in nearly 30 years. It was the fifth-most combined points of any two players in a game in NBA history, trailing only Karl Malone’s final four face-offs with Michael Jordan in the early-2000s. So outside of MJ and the Mailman, this was the highest-scoring matchup of all-time. Pretty cool to think about.
The Cavs scored just 18 points in the first quarter, which ties for their second-lowest output in the opening frame all season. It’s the second consecutive game the Mavs have kept their opponent under 20 in the first, after limiting the Wolves to just 16 on Friday night.
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He just steps into that shot so easily. Last season he said he sometimes just didn’t have the legs to shoot the 3-ball consistently, but now that he’s playing more small forward and banging with the bigs less often around the rim, maybe he’s got a little more spring in his step. He also ran another pick-and-roll as the ball-handler with Dennis Smith Jr. and the Mavs got a bucket out of it.
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He’s really come a long way these last 15 games.
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There isn’t much more to say about this play other than wow, that guy is really good and exciting and can jump extremely high. It was a nice move, obviously, spinning off his defender and then rising for the strong finish over the help. But yeah. It was awesome.
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McDermott smoothly and easily strode into a one-legged fadeaway with some really nice footwork and body control. That’s not an easy move to pull off at half-speed, let alone nearly at full speed. He’s got so much talent and is still only in his mid-20s. It’s gonna be really interesting to see the kind of player he can become with two or three more years of work and experience.
The Mavs (23-54) will play the Portland Trail Blazers (47-29) on Tuesday at American Airlines Center at 7:30 p.m. Central.
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