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Final: Mavs 106, Thunder 103

  • Down one point with under two minutes left, the Mavs rookie guard stood at the free throw line in front of nearly 20,000 people bellowing out boos, taunts, and prayers in an effort to distract him from the task at hand. It worked. His first offering rattled out. But he still appeared unfazed. He’s been there before, after all. And so he stepped into the second attempt and sank it, silencing the raucous crowd. Then, less than one minute later, he stepped into a pull-up jumper which found the bottom of the net to put his team in front. Before coming to the NBA, he’d spent years refining his skill set and his clutch gene with another team, and his success late in games helped him rack up multiple championships before joining the Mavericks. The Thunder would reclaim the lead during the next trip down the floor, with half a minute remaining, sending the building into a frenzy. But he coolly took the inbound pass after the ensuing timeout, took a screen, drove hard to the rim, and dumped off a perfect pass to a cutting Dwight Powell for a go-ahead slam, what would prove to be the game-winning bucket. The rookie stepped up big — again — and this time helped his NBA team do what he’d done a year earlier: win.

    I am, of course, talking about Jalen Brunson, who finished with 18 points on 11 shots to go along with four assists, including one which proved to likely be the most significant of his career to date.

    Brunson, like many of his teammates, have spent much of the post-All-Star break grouped in as one of the “other guys” next to Luka Doncic, who’s having one of the most outstanding rookie seasons we have ever seen (and who was out today with a right thigh contusion). But Brunson himself is also having a quality first-year campaign, in the midst of a stretch of 14 straight games scoring in double-figures, and boasting 16-point, four-assist per averages since the All-Star break. The Villanova product has put together an All-Rookie season, but whether he receives that recognition or not is still in question. This is a loaded rookie class, of course, and he’s the second-best rookie on his own team, one that’s toward the bottom of the Western Conference standings. But plays like these — making an advanced pass in an enormous moment, on the road against a playoff team — will help make his case not only for All-Rookie honors, but also for continuing to receive significant playing time moving forward, no matter how many quality players the Mavericks add in free agency or via trade this summer. He’s in the rotation if I’m the coach, no matter what. (Now, thankfully for all of you I’m not the head coach, but the point stands.)

  • Trey Burke had what was easily his best game as a Maverick, going off for 25 points and eight assists (against zero turnovers!) on 10-of-18 shooting in 31 minutes. He was a team-best-tying +14 in a three-point game. Burke’s game is a combination of smooth handles and quickness to go along with the fearlessness necessary to be an offensive force at his height. He’s not unlike J.J. Barea, although Burke does prefer step-backs and pull-ups a little more than his veteran teammate. But, mixed in among his bevy of dribble-jumper moves, the young vet flashed several pretty drives to the rim in this game, including one to put Dallas in front with just over a minute left.

    That bucket came against Paul George, mind you, one of the best perimeter defenders in the game. Burke knew he didn’t have the separation required to finish over George as things stood when he prepared to turn the corner, so he made a nice hesitation move to line him up and remove Steven Adams from the play, then bumped George to create the space needed to flip it in off the glass. That’s a beautiful move and a big-time finish from the smallest player on the floor.

    Burke shot 4 of 8 from beyond the arc in this one, bringing his 3-point percentage as a Maverick up to 36.7 percent. That mark, to go along with his nearly 3-to-1 assist ratio, makes him quite a playmaker to bring in off the bench. And despite the team’s results, he’s had a positive plus-minus in eight of his last nine appearances, indicating that things have generally gone well when he’s been out there. He’s about to be a free agent, and no one’s future is ever perfectly clear, but Burke has proven himself to be a quality rotation piece in his time in Dallas, especially during these last couple weeks as his playing time has been on the rise.

  • I wouldn’t blame you for not immediately predicting that Dirk Nowitzki would out-rebound all of his teammates and both Russell Westbrook and Paul George, but the Big German did just that. He collected 13 boards, 12 of them defensive, which is his most in a game since March 5, 2017. It’s just the seventh such performance he’s put together since the start of the 2013-14 season. Dirk shot just 2 of 10 from the field in this game, rimming out a few really nice looks, but like Trey Burke he was also a +14 on the day, and in 27 minutes. That’s now three games out of his last four with at least 26 minutes played, and his combined plus-minus in that time is +23 and he’s shooting 40 percent from beyond the arc, too. Every time anyone talks about him it’s always an assumption that this is the end. But the numbers he’s putting up lately don’t make it seem so certain.

    What’s Next

    The Mavs (30-46) will play Eastern Conference powerhouse Philadelphia at home on Monday. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m.

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