DALLAS — It’s not only that the Dallas Mavericks couldn’t have won a game like this when the season began. It’s that they couldn’t have won a game like this at any point in the Luka Dončić era prior to this February.
Friday’s victory, a 101-90 physical slugfest of a win against the L.A. Clippers that put Dallas up 2-1 in the teams’ first-round series, can be directly traced to this season’s trade deadline, when the team acquired P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford. Those moves, in conjunction with the team’s offseason makeover, have changed the team’s very identity and winning recipe.
There are other factors that have helped, like the NBA’s new officiating emphasis that has allowed more physicality within games. The team finally being healthy at the same time impacts Dallas’ success, too.
But take Washington, for example, who was ejected in the fourth quarter after two second-half technical fouls for being involved — in the loosest sense of the word — in two minor altercations in the second half.
The first exchange of words came with LA’s Norm Powell, who apparently wanted Washington to stop staring at his team’s bench. In response, Washington propped a pose, tilted his head, folded his arms across his chest and stared even longer. When he returned to his team’s huddle, he repeated the celebration and then mimed taking a photo.
There’s a grit to that, and it embodies how Washington plays on the court. While Dallas has employed players in the Dončić era who could scrap or instigate, it didn’t have ones who could always back it up. Washington finished with a modest stat line — 10 points, five rebounds, three steals, one block — but felt every bit as impactful as his game-high plus-23.
And then there’s Gafford, who rose up to stuff Paul George’s dunk at the apex of his leap about a minute into the fourth quarter.
That’s a grown-man BL🚫CK https://t.co/GkEkqEZYOM pic.twitter.com/vj1sxQq09r
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) April 27, 2024
After the trade deadline, the Mavericks forced opponents into the NBA’s lowest shooting percentage at the rim (62.0 percent). Through the incredibly small sample size that is this series’ first three games, they’re faring even better (51.6 percent). Dallas did not have the ways or the personnel to wall off the rim like this when the season began. Now, with Gafford and rookie Dereck Lively II leading the way, it is very hard to score against them near the basket.
“Defense dictated the offense,” Dončić said. “I think we didn’t play great offensively, especially me, but we won the game.”
Offensively, Dallas relies on shotmaking brilliance from Dončić and Kyrie Irving. On Friday, those two combined for just 43 points on 15-of-42 shooting. Dončić, specifically, had the worst playoff shooting night (28 percent) of his career, while Irving played the game’s first 34 minutes with just two points as foul trouble kept him out of rhythm.
“Just being mature about it,” Irving said of his thought process. “It’s two points, so the F what. It’s about winning the game and making an impact when it’s needed most.”
These are statistics that make sense as explanations for some loss. Oh, the stars didn’t have it tonight, on to the next one. But Dallas not only won, but did so handily. By the time the second half arrived, the result never felt in doubt.
Irving took over late, of course, with 19 points in the final 14 minutes. And Dončić is almost always the team’s most influential offensive player no matter how poorly he shoots, which wasn’t even fully reflected in his nine assists. This is almost certainly the most athletic team of the Dončić era, and much of his new role comes down to orchestrating their athleticism with the team’s newfound tempo. Specifically, Dončić can now throw lob passes where they need to go.
And on Friday, Dallas couldn’t stop throwing them, couldn’t stop dunking. Dallas threw down eight alley-oops on Friday, tied for the most by any team all regular season and the most in a playoff game since at least the 2013-14 season, when tracking data begins.
This trend began in the regular season; Dallas was the only team to attempt 14 dunks or more in a single game more than once. They did it twice, both games coming following the traded deadline, including a March 21 matchup where they had 18 dunks, more than any other team this season and a franchise record.
The Clippers actually made more 3s, converting 10 versus Dallas having only nine. That statistic, which used to signal everything about Dallas’ ability to win, now means next to nothing. The Mavericks finished with eight wins in 10 tries in matchups where it converted 12 or fewer 3s, improving on their 2-10 record in such games prior to that. Here’s another way to tally up.
The Mavericks didn’t use to look like this. They were not a team that flew high, not in Dončić’s first few years. They always relied on 3s and never really played good defense outside of 2022’s conference finals run. They’re rarely been able to overcome dismal performances from Dončić, certainly not also from his co-star in the same game.
Yet here they are, a vastly different team than they were before. One that isn’t going anywhere, and one the Clippers will have to figure out for the rest of this series.
(Glenn James / NBAE via Getty Images)
