Here are my 5 takeaways from the Dallas Mavericks’ 123-118 loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Friday at American Airlines Center:
1. JORDAN IS A DUNKING MACHINE: One thing’s for sure. When DeAndre Jordan is anywhere around, there’s going to be a whole lot of dunking going on. Against Charlotte, Jordan went 6-of-6 from the field. And five of his field goals were dunks. Jordan mastered three of his dunks during a two minute and 38 second span of the third quarter. Two of those came via spectacular passes from rookie Luka Doncic, and other was an alley-oop dunk resulted from a pass from Dennis Smith Jr. NBA rims, beware! You guys are in deep trouble.
2. DONCIC HAS BEEN HERE BEFORE: Yes, Luka Doncic is an NBA rookie. And he’s only 19. But you have to remember, this kid started playing pro basketball in Europe at the tender age of 16. OK, it wasn’t the NBA, but it was still PRO BASKETBALL, for crying out loud! That’s why you see Doncic able to navigate himself around the court with so much ease. It’s as if he’s been there done that before. Well, actually he has been there done that before as a pro basketball player. It’s just that it was in Europe – not in the NBA.
3. MAVS LIT UP THE SCOREBOARD: Those 118 the Mavs scored against Charlotte has to be music to coach Rick Carlisle’s ears, because that was a monumental achievement for a team who had issues trying to score last season. By contrast, last year – including the preseason – the Mavs only reached the 118-point barrier seven times, with six of those coming during the regular season. And don’t forget, the Mavs played Friday’s game without two of their top four scorers from last year in Harrison Barnes (hamstring) and Dirk Nowitzki (ankle).
4. HOW DID SMITH AND DONCIC DO: Whenever the Mavs play, the first thing people want to know is did they win or lose, and how did Luka Doncic and Dennis Smith Jr. play. Doncic scored a game-high tying 18 points and showed off his defensive skills by picking up three steals. The rookie from Slovenia was 6-of-14 from the field, 4-of-10 from 3-point territory and also contributed four rebounds and four assists while turning the ball over just one time. Smith contributed 16 points and three assists, and was 5-of-14 from the floor and 2-of-5 from 3-point range. And yes, they created another buzz.
5. ARE THE MAVS READY FOR THE REGULAR SEASON OPENER: The Mavs only played four preseason games. That’s down from the six they played last year, seven they played two years ago, and the eight that they played during the 2014-’15 season. With so many young players on his roster, coach Rick Carlisle said it would have been nice to have more preseason games on this year’s slate before they open the regular season Wednesday in Phoenix. Also, if you count the preseason opener the Mavs played against the Beijing Ducks, they actually only played three preseason games against NBA teams.
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