The dam that was holding back the Dallas Mavericks’ newly installed flow offense finally broke on Sunday in a 139-129 win over the Toronto Raptors (1-2) at American Airlines Center. Everybody ate against Toronto in a win that could serve as something of a reset after two stinkers to start the 2025-26 season.
Anthony Davis led the Mavericks (1-2) with 25 points and 10 rebounds, his third consecutive double-double to start the year. Scottie Barnes, who has made a habit of killing the Mavericks in the past couple years, led all scorers with 33 points and 11 boards in the loss. Brandon Ingram, in his first year with the Raptors after signing with Toronto this offseason, added 22 points and six boards for the visitors from the Great White North.
Here are six stats that loomed large over Dallas’ first win of the season.
12-of-17: Mavericks’ first-quarter shooting
Dallas came into the game against the Raptors shooting 40.4% from the floor and scoring just 85.0 points per 100 possessions, both dead last in the league. They started Sunday’s game 9-of-12 from the floor and finished the first quarter 12-of-17 (70.4%) as a team.
Anthony Davis, Klay Thompson, Cooper Flagg and Naji Marshall all connected on their first two shot attempts — a model of efficiency from the league’s most inefficient offense at this early juncture. And yet, despite the hot shooting from the floor, the Mavs still couldn’t build any kind of early lead. Dallas’ largest lead of the quarter was six points, 19-13 on two free throws from D’Angelo Russell with 4:52 left in the first. There were six ties and 11 lead changes through the game’s first 15 minutes.
How could something like this happen against an average-to-poor opponent? Our next stat of the game will provide some illumination.
8: Mavericks’ first-quarter turnovers
Yup. You guessed it. The Mavericks turned the ball over eight times in the first 12 minutes of the game. PJ Washington, who turned the ball over 10 times in the first two games of the year (eight turnovers Friday against Washington), coughed it up twice more in the first quarter against the Raptors. Kormac Karl “Max” Christie came in off the bench and gave it up twice more in his first five minutes on the floor.
Christie’s two first-quarter turnovers led directly to five quick Toronto points on the other end. No amount of defense can save you if you’re offense is turning the ball over eight times in a quarter.
After turning the ball over 12 times in the first half, the Mavs limited the giveaways to eight in the second half.
66: Raptors’ first-half points total
After giving up 125 points to the San Antonio Spurs in the season opener, then 117 to the Washington Wizards on Friday, Dallas gave up 32 points to the Raptors on Sunday in the first quarter, then 34 more in the second. What happened to “defense wins championships,” guys?
Even though the Mavericks’ offense slowed a little in the second to bring their first-half shooting numbers to 22-of-38 (57.9%) from the floor, there is still no reason any team shooting better than 50% from the floor should go into the half trailing the Raptors. Sandro Mamukelashvili came in off the bench and feasted on open lanes and open 3-pointers in his 12 first-half minutes. He scored 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting in the first half, while Scottie Barnes torched the Mavs for 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting as Toronto took a 66-64 lead into the break.
The lead changed hands 20 times in the hotly (read: incompetently) contested first half, which also featured nine ties. Sure, the Raptors came in scoring more than 127 points per game through their first two this season. However, when the Mavs’ front office tries to sell fans on the bill of goods that they’re building an elite defense because that’s the “vision” for how to win in the modern NBA (it’s not), and the results tell a different story, it goes a step beyond confusing or head-scratching. It’s horse hockey. It’s pissing on our leg and trying to convince us it’s raining.
13-0: Dallas’ pivotal third-quarter run
The Mavs took their first second-half lead of the young season, up 78-76, on Davis’ tip dunk five minutes into the third quarter. They held the lead for exactly zero seconds in the second half of the first two games of the season. And-1 drives from Barnes and Immanuel Quickley brought the Raptors back in front, 85-82, in short order.
But from there, the Mavericks finally started to put it all together, starting a 13-0 run with a drive to the rack from Flagg and a nifty floater from Russell two minutes later. Flagg brought the house down with two more vicious slams during the run. The second came through the flailing foul of Mamukelashvili, and the ensuing free throw gave Dallas a 95-85 lead with 3:11 left in the third.
Flagg threw perfect lob passes to both Davis and Dereck Lively II earlier in the quarter, turning the frame into a personal highlight reel tape. This kid is absolutely incredible. Dallas took a 103-91 advantage into the fourth quarter as Flagg scored seven points and dished three dimes in the third.
The Mavs were able to maintain a double-digit lead for most of the fourth to fend off the fast-paced Raptors’ offense.
2: Long jump shot attempts by Anthony Davis
Davis scored 25 points on 11-of-14 shooting from the floor in the win. He grabbed 10 boards. He was a finisher inside first and foremost. These are all good things. In fact, he only attempted one 3-pointer on the night, a miss from the right corner in the third quarter, and settled for just one other long jumper in the game. He needs to make that the template going forward.
There is nothing we at Mavs Moneyball hate to see more than Davis settling for long jumper after long jumper, living (not so much thriving) in the fantasy that he’s a very long wing player. Davis is 2-of-9 from 3-point range through the first three games of the season. If he can limit his shenanigans from deep and continue to be a more efficient player, it would go a long way to engendering more and more goodwill with Mavs fans.
7: Mavericks scorers to reach double-figures
The Mavs continued their efficiency on offense throughout the second half. They shot 58.4% from the floor for the game. Seven Mavericks reached double-figure scoring in the win over the Raptors.
Davis led the team with 25 points, 10 rebounds and three steals. Flagg added 22 more points to go along with four boards and four assists. Russell had his best game of the young season with 24 points and six assists in 29 minutes after missing his first seven shot attempts of the game off the bench. Christie and Washington chipped in 17 apiece, Marshall had 12 and Thompson came out of his two-game shooting slump (2-of-11 from 3-point range) to start the year with a 4-for-7 night (2-for-4 from 3-point land) and 10 points.
The ball was on the move against Toronto after the Mavs’ flow offense slowed to more of a mushy consistency in the first two games. The Mavs found easier shots against the Raptors. They got out and ran. They outscored Toronto 70-58 in the paint and 25-21 in transition in the win.