Naji Marshall has been on a tear lately.Naji
Over the last four games, the Dallas Mavericks’ forward has averaged 25.8 points and 10.5 rebounds while shooting 52.6 percent from the field. Indeed, he’s been putting on a show during that span while a lot of the other players in the Mavs’ rotation have been mired on the injury list.
Last Monday against Sacramento, Marshall finished with 18 points, five rebounds, six assists and two steals. On Wednesday in Milwaukee, he collected 22 points and 11 boards.
This past Friday against Memphis, Marshall had career highs in points (29) and rebounds (17) and added a pair of steals. And in Sunday’s 125-116 loss to the NajiPhoenix Suns, Marshall manufactured another career high with 34 points.
In fact, against the Suns, Marshall came up just one rebound shy of collecting his first career triple-double as he finished with nine rebounds and a career-high tying 10 assists.
Marshall joined Kyrie Irving and Luka Dončić as the only Mavs players in the last eight years with a 30-point, 10-assist double-double game.
“I think things are just going well for me right now,” Marshall said. “Sometimes you make threes, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you’re efficient, sometimes you’re not.”
Marshall has been the most efficient Mavs’ player since a bushel of them went down with serious injuries. But the individual stats matter not to Marshall.
“I just wanted to win,” he said. “I felt like the last two games we’ve been battling and playing hard.Naji
“(I’m) just looking forward to coming out on the winning side. It was a good game (Sunday) by all of us, but it’s on to the next (game).”
Marshall was 13-of-22 from the field against the Suns while being one of the key offseason acquisitions for the Mavs last summer.
“I think for Naji, when he’s able to get to that floatier he’s really, really good,” coach Jason Kidd said. “We need that and we need him to knock down some threes and we need him to guard the bigs.
Naji“So, we’re asking him to do a lot. Just his ability to score off the dribble is big for us.”
The Mavs have become accustomed to seeing Marshall take the ball out of the backcourt and dart up the court as fast as he can before the defense can set up. It has become part of his DNA.
“I’m just trying to keep the pace high, push the pace,” he said. “Rebound and push. Get stops, rebound and push.”
Marshall was asked about what could have been this season if the Mavs would have had a healthy Kyrie Irving (torn left ACL), Anthony Davis (left adductor strain), Dereck Lively II (right ankle stress fracture), Daniel Gafford (right knee sprain), PJ Washington (right ankle sprain), Jaden Hardy (right ankle sprain), Olivier-Maxence Prosper (right wrist sprain) and Kai Jones (left quad strain) for this stretch of the season.
“It didn’t happen, so I don’t know,” he said. “But hopefully when we get healthy and they all come back together we can be a championship team.
“You wish the best for your brothers and you hate to see them go out like that, especially since we had such a good team and a great season up to this point. Like I said, I just play as hard as I can until they get back.”
DEFENSES LOADING UP ON KLAY: Before the game Mavs coach Jason Kidd said his team’s injury situation is giving a lot of players some uniqueKlay opportunities.
With guard Kyrie Irving out for the season and other frontline players occupying the injury report, defenses are loading up on forward Klay Thompson. And for that reason other Mavs players have found themselves with some unique scoring opportunities.
“They’re going to take away Klay anyway,” Kidd said. “So just for the sake of the team, hopefully they don’t take away Klay and we can get some easy looks for him. But it’s a team game. We got to generate shots. Someone has to be able to touch the paint with the ball . . . and we got to be able to knock down open shots.
“They might not focus on B-Will (Brandon Williams) and he can have 30. (Kessler) Edwards, they’re going to give him that three. So, this is a great opportunity to take those shots and knock them down.”
BRIEFLY: All five Mavs starters scoring at least 10 points in Sunday’s game. That includes Naji Marshall (34), Klay Thompson (26), Brandon Williams (13), Max NajiChristie (12) and Kessler Edwards (10). That has happened nine times this season, and Sunday was the first time since the Feb. 13 game against Miami. . .The Mavs were 17-of-42 from three-point land on Sunday. It’s the 24th time they’ve made at least 15 shots from downtown this season. . .The Suns were part of an historic game when they lost at Denver, 149-141, in overtime this past Friday. In that game, Nuggets center Nikola Jokic finished with 31 points, 21 rebounds and 22 assists. It’s the first time in NBA history that a player collected a triple-double with at least 30 points, 20 rebounds and 20 assists. . .Suns guard Cody Martin, who is the twin brother of Mavs guard Caleb Martin, hasn’t played since Jan. 24 against Portland when he was a member of the Charlotte Hornets, and is currently dealing with a sports hernia. Will Cody Martin be able to return at some point this season? “Just getting him healthy, I think, is realistic,” Suns coach Mike Budenholzer said. “And then figuring out how he fits into the rotation and all that is to be determined. But I think there’s still pretty significant time – 25 percent of the season (remaining) — I think probably a good four-to-six weeks. So, I think we’re hopeful that we can get him healthy. Then, it does become how and where and when does he fit into the rotation. But I think first it’s just about getting him healthy.” On Feb. 6, the Suns acquired Vasilije Micic, Martin and a 2026 second-round draft pick from the Hornets for Jusuf Nurkic and a 2026 first-round draft pick. Martin started the game against Portland and played just five minutes before leaving with the injury. . .Suns forward Kevin Durant and Marshall both played high school basketball in Maryland – at different times, of course. Marshall said it’s “priceless’ to play against someone of Durant’s stature. “I’m extremely blessed,” he said. “Growing up watching KD and then just to be out there battling him, you know what he means to where we’re from. So, just to go out there and do that is a blessing.”
X: @DwainPrice