The Dallas Mavericks welcomed the Atlanta Hawks to Texas on Wednesday night, looking to sweep the season series between the teams while strengthening their Play-In Tournament positioning in the Western Conference. The Hawks didn’t go easily, but the Mavs got the result they needed, winning 120-108. This win combined with the Sacramento Kings dropping one to the Washington Wizards resulted in a full-game bump in the standings for Dallas.
This was a great win and had a lot of excitement down the stretch, but a fair assessment of the game means we have to recognize the non-existent defense that was played over the first three quarters. Continuing an alarming (and long-standing) trend this season, the Mavs seem almost incapable of guarding the three. Perhaps a better descriptor is unwilling. Whether it is the defensive mandate or simply a shortcoming, the Mavs need to get this fixed. They watched the Hawks attempt 38 threes (connecting at 38.5%) with many being of the completely wide open variety. They are fortunate that didn’t cost them a second straight loss.
On a positive note, after a season filled with injury after injury after injury, the Mavs have now strung together back-to-back games where players actually returned! After Daniel Gafford came back to the lineup Monday, Dereck Lively II further bolstered the big man rotation tonight following a 36-game absence. Let’s get to the grades!
Spencer Dinwiddie: B
14 Points / 4 Rebounds / 10 Assists / 2 Steals / 0 Blocks (33 Minutes)
Dinwiddie had a really nice game going but overshadowed it with back-to-back poor shots late in the fourth quarter. Both of those misses resulted in scores on the other end which put the Mavs in jeopardy of dropping a second consecutive must-win. He then missed a layup a few moments later, though he received a hot potato pass on a busted play for that one. Despite those blemishes, he did have a double-double, shot well (save for the glaring ones mentioned above) and had a few very heady defensive plays that will not show up on any stat sheet.
Klay Thompson: A
17 Points / 4 Rebounds / 2 Assists / 1 Steal / 1 Block (29 Minutes)
Game-tying three with less than a minute remaining in the game? That’s why he’s here. Awesome defense to cause your matchup to fall out of bounds and commit a turnover to set up a game-winner? Yeah, why not? It wasn’t Thompson’s best game but he played better than the box score shows and did exactly what he is here to do – shoot like a sniper (5-for-9 on threes) – and then some. Interesting observation: in the closing moments AD had his back to the basket with Thompson behind the arc on the same side of the court. The Hawks could do nothing more that feign a double-team, knowing if they closed on Davis in the most logical way possible, it would leave Thompson wide open for a three. This could be a simple, obvious and ruthless combination going forward.
Naji Marshall: C+
6 Points / 2 Rebounds / 8 Assists / 0 Steals / 0 Blocks (35 Minutes)
Naji had a decently well-rounded game but did relatively little despite leading the team in minutes. He missed all three of his three-point attempts and shot only 33.3% on six shots overall. A nice assist total was the highlight, but this was otherwise largely forgettable.
Anthony Davis: A+
34 Points / 15 Rebounds / 2 Assists / 1 Steal / 5 Blocks (30 Minutes)
In a game where defense was apparently the most offensive four-letter word ever uttered for the first three quarters, Davis had an amazing sequence where he basically played one-on-three, blocking consecutive shots before hauling in a rebound and getting fouled. Aside from that, he went beast-mode. He did have a few too many turnovers, but there was nothing else you could be unhappy about here. He was right at his season average in points and rebounds by the time he took a breather in the third quarter with four minutes remaining. He nailed a very difficult shot that proved to be the game-winner and then played solid defense against Trae Young to force an air-ball and seal the deal. All this in a game where he missed nearly the entire second quarter after taking a friendly-fire shot above the right eye from Daniel Gafford.
Dereck Lively: B
4 Points / 5 Rebounds / 1 Assist / 0 Steals / 1 Block (16 Minutes)
Lively, like Gafford Monday night, did not look like he missed extended time. Also like Gafford last game, this was in no small part due to minutes-management, but all in all he made the most of his time and looked good doing it, even delivering a spot-on assist to AD for an alley-oop finish.
Daniel Gafford: B+
11 Points / 6 Rebounds / 0 Assists / 0 Steals / 1 Block (20 Minutes)
Gafford converted on five of his seven shots and jammed up the paint whenever he was on the floor. He committed far too many fouls (5) to muddy things up a bit, but really gave it his all in his second game back from injury. He had a few close-outs in a game where that was a rarity and contributed to more rebounds than he himself collected, simply by bodying out the Hawks underneath.
Max Christie: C
11 Points / 3 Rebounds / 0 Assists / 0 Steals / 0 Blocks (25 Minutes)
Christie is about one half-inch away from being what he was when he first arrived. Shooting only 3-for-10 from the floor, it felt like he easily could have shot 7-for-10 given the number of shots that were halfway down only to rim out. Hopefully he can identify a couple of small tweaks and start seeing his shot fall like it was in February.
Jaden Hardy: B+
13 Points / 1 Rebound / 3 Assists / 1 Steal / 0 Blocks (22 Minutes)
Hardy showed his not-so-pretty point guard form and his much prettier shooting guard form. I’ve commented on this before and here we are again. He either needs to develop into a better point guard soon, or Jason Kidd needs to stop letting him orchestrate as frequently. Drawing an offensive foul in each of the third and fourth quarters directly contributed to the Mavs building a lead after trailing much of the game. He went 5-for-9 overall and 3-for-4 on threes.
Caleb Martin: B+
8 Points / 1 Rebound / 1 Assist / 2 Steals / 0 Blocks (28 Minutes)
Watching Martin tonight gave me vibes of former-Mav Eduardo Najera. They are certainly different players, particularly in that Martin can (and did tonight) effectively run the offense, but tonight Martin seemed to do much more than the box score shows. Like Najera used to play, Martin played good defense, got on the floor and had a few nice athletic drives. His grade may seem disproportionately high to some, but watching him play tonight showed a healthier version than we’ve yet seen and he was a positive influence on the game.