When P.J. Washington drilled three straight three-pointers in the first quarter in a span of 90 seconds Friday against the Golden State Warriors, he knew he was going to have a special night.
“Obviously, I haven’t really been making shots as of late, so for me just to see them go in is a great confidence booster,” Washington said. “Credit to all my coaches being in there with me every day and getting the work in. I’m just excited that we got a W tonight.
“I tried to pick and choose my spots and just tried to attack early and often and put pressure on them.”
With Luka Doncic out with right knee soreness, Washington finished with 32 points, five rebounds, five steals and two blocks in 40 minutes in his best performance since joining the Dallas Mavericks in a Feb. 8 trade with the Charlotte Hornets. And about that trade, coach Jason Kidd gave a nod to Mavs general manager Nico Harrison for bringing Washington to Dallas.
“I think when you talk about the front office, Nico has the blueprint on everyone,” Kidd said. “He was (an executive) at Nike. Everybody wants to wear the (Nike) swoosh.
“So, he’s known a lot of these kids since they were 13-14 years old. And I think we said it in the press conference that (Washington) can play defense, and that’s what he did at Kentucky.”
In addition to playing strong defense at Kentucky, Washington also has been a strong defender for the Mavs.
“Just going into the trade, we felt that’s something that we missed was a big wing, and (Washington) fits the profile and he’s done the work,” Kidd said. “You guys have talked about the shooting, and it’s going to come.
“It’s just a matter of time, and you could see that (Friday). With Luka out he stepped up. He was big and we’re going to need him to continue to do that.”
Center Daniel Gafford was thoroughly impressed with the way Washington took his game to another level against the Warriors.
“I felt like from the beginning of the game he was on it,” Gafford said. “Just seeing him just getting downhill and making shots that he works on (on) a day-to-day basis, I’ve become to see just what type of player he is at the end of the day, especially at the defensive end, not just necessarily at the offensive end.
“I didn’t even know he had 32 (points) until after the game. I’m like, ‘Oh my God.’ “
Gafford said one of the keys that has led to Washington’s success is that he’s an aggressive player who should be receiving more notoriety league-wide as a lockdown defender.
“He’s out there guarding some of the best players in the world,” Gafford said. “So he just has to have a chip on his shoulders and just go out there and have that level of aggression that nobody is going to get past you, and then always being there for the next person.
“He’s out there guarding some of the best guards, some of the best forwards, and at the of the day we always just make sure we have his back. On the back line of the defense, I just see a lot of things that he does that really helps us defensively. He gives a lot of energy on the front line, and if anything gets past him, most of the time he recovers and tries to get a blocked shot, too.”
Here are the three takeaways from the Mavs’ two-point win over the Warriors.
IRVING TOOK CONTROL: Kyrie Irving showed once again why he is so valuable to the Mavs. With Luka Doncic sidelined with right knee soreness, the bulk of the point guard minutes fell on the broad shoulders of Irving. And he delivered the goods for the Mavs, as he scored 26 points, grabbed eight rebounds, handed out seven assists and picked up two steals in 42 minutes. That’s the most minutes Irving has played this season besides the 43 minutes he played in the 112-104 victory over the Washington Wizards on Feb. 12. Friday’s game also was the 28th straight game Irving has played, and the Mavs are an impressive 21-7 in those games. “I think when Kai is on the floor it gives us a chance to win,” coach Jason Kidd said. “You can see the trust that he has in his teammates, you can see the trust in his teammates with him, so it’s a beautiful thing. Our goal right now is to keep him healthy, to keep him on the floor, and that gives us a chance to win. His ability to play the game the right way — that’s what he does. He takes what the defense gives him, he’s very unselfish, he gives the ball up, because he creates a problem. His shot-making ability is one of the best in the league, and he plays the game the right way. When you play the game the right way, good things happen, and you see that right now with Kai. His ability to trust and uplift his teammates at a high level is rare in this league, but he does it on a nightly basis.”
GAFFORD WAS ALL OVER THE COURT: Friday was a physically challenging game, with players getting knocked around on both ends of the court. In other words, it was Daniel Gafford’s type of game. Gafford responded to the physicality with 10 points, a game-high 15 rebounds, a career-high tying five assists and a game-high tying three blocked shots. He played 33 minutes, the most Gafford has played since the Mavs obtained him in that Feb. 8 trade with the Washington Wizards. Even though Gafford used a lot of energy in a game which wound up being the Mavs’ 13th victory in their last 15 games, he knew they needed more of him, particularly with Dereck Lively II (right knee sprain) and Maxi Kleber (back spasms) were not able to play. “There were a couple of shots that we missed, but we didn’t really hold our heads,” Gafford said. “We just kept playing basketball. At the end of the day, just having the energy and — on the defensive end – (we) just turned the defense into offense.”
THE BALL WAS HUMMING: To say that the Mavs had the ball humming is a major understatement. Of the Mavs’ 40 field goals the Mavs made, 30 of them came via an assist. And they had five players record at least three assists, led by seven each from Irving and Dante Exum as the Mavs had to adjust their game because point guard Luka Doncic was unable to play. “We played different (Friday), and that’s just the beauty of this team,” Kidd said. “We can play at a higher pace, we can slow it down, we can run a lot of pick-and-rolls, or we can run different things. As you can see, without Luka we didn’t have just a steady diet of pick-and-rolls. We can do different things, and that’s the nice part about this team is that they can pivot and play different with injuries. Hopefully, as we get healthy we can continue to do that.”
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