The [Dallas Mavericks defeated the Detroit Pistons 123-117 Friday night in Dallas](https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2025/3/21/24391356/mavericks-pistons-final-score-123-121-dallas-detroit-pj-washington-spencer-dinwiddie). It was a pretty wild game, with the Mavericks battling a good Pistons team and leading almost wire-to-wire, despite Detroit putting in some scares at points in the fourth quarter.
Spencer Dinwiddie led the way with 31 points, and PJ Washington continued his stellar play with 27 points. This win broke a four-game losing streak for the Mavericks, who entered tonight having only won twice in their last 13 games.
Let’s get to the interesting numbers from the big win.
65.2: Percentage the Mavericks shot from ‘floater’ range
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Dallas had a very efficient night overall, especially in the paint: the Mavericks shot a remarkable 15-of-23 (65.2 percent) from outside the restricted area, inside the paint. That’s always a mouthful to say, so sometimes we call it the “floater” range since you know, that’s where players shoot floaters in the paint.
Spencer Dinwiddie and Naji Marshall did most of the damage from that area, combining to go an astonishing 10-of-12 from that area of the floor (Dinwiddie was 4-of-4, Marshall was 6-of-8). Dallas as a team scored 54 points in the paint and shot 12-of-17 (70.6 percent) at the rim. A really efficient night in the paint for a Mavericks team facing a size disadvantage.
0-to-9: PJ Washington’s assist-to-turnover ratio
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PJ Washington really did have a great game, with 27 points, two steals, and four blocks. Washington has looked like his springy and bouncy self since returning from his latest ankle injury, which is great news for Dallas. It must be mentioned however, that Washington hilariously had nine turnovers and zero assists.
The zero assists isn’t that surprising for Washington, although he can be a willing and decent passer. That just wasn’t the case tonight against Detroit, as Washington coughed the ball up a ton, especially during some frantic sequences in the fourth quarter. Washington’s nine turnovers were the key reason why the Mavericks had a way-too-high 20 total team turnovers.
Despite all of that, Washington still finished the game a plus-five, and the Pistons _only_ scored 17 points off those 20 turnovers.
3: Consecutive games Kai Jones has scored in double digits
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Kai Jones has played 97 games in his three-year NBA career, and in those 97 games he’s averaged 9.1 minutes and 2.9 points per game. He hasn’t really done all that much in the NBA. Yet in Dallas he looks like an All-Star.
In just three games with Dallas, Jones has averaged 16.3 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. Jones had another solid game Friday with 10 points and seven rebounds, to go along with two blocks. Not only has Jones never had three straight games scoring in double-figures for his career, he’s never even had _two_ straight games in double-digits.
Jones’ previous three-game high for total points scored was 24 across three games down the stretch of the 2023 season, when Jones scored 10, then 4, then 10 points in a row. In his three games with Dallas Jones has totaled _49_ points. It’s remarkable. Dallas just keeps finding these games, and it’s amazing. Nothing more to say.