The Dallas Mavericks smothered the Orlando Magic 108-85 on Sunday night in Dallas. It was Maverick’s biggest win of the season, measured by margin of victory, and a good palate cleanser after Thursday night’s ugly loss to the Rockets.
Luka Doncic led all scorers with 32 points, pouring in 25 in the first half to pull off a punch early in the second quarter. After another slow start, the Mavericks defense completely suffocated the Magic offense by the end of the first quarter, and from then on the Mavericks were off the races, securing rebounds and coming out in transition.
Orlando was missing leading scorer Paolo Banchero, who is out with a torn right oblique, and it showed early. The Magic offense was rudderless as the Mavericks swarmed the paint, daring the Magic to beat them with three-point shooting. The Magic shot 19.5 percent from three (8-of-41) and never really threatened the Mavericks’ defense at any point in the game.
Doncic’s brilliance aside, it was a well-rounded performance from the squad. Daniel Gafford finished with 18 points and eight rebounds in just 20 minutes, Naji Marshall had five rebounds, five assists and two steals off the bench, Dereck Lively had a double-double (11 points, 11 rebounds) in 20 minutes off the bench, and was a monster defensively for each of those minutes.
With Dallas holding a 23-point lead for the entire second half, all key players were allowed to rest for most of the fourth quarter. That is crucial, because Dallas plays again tomorrow night against the fast Indiana Pacers. Here are our top thoughts on the game.
Dallas did his job to play faster
A big reason for the loss to the Rockets on Thursday was the Mavericks’ lack of rebounding, which allowed Houston to get 18 offensive rebounds. Whatever message was sent in the two days off after the loss was received loud and clear against Orlando on Sunday: the Mavericks outscored the Magic 53-43 and allowed just 13 offensive rebounds.
While allowing double-digit offensive rebounds again doesn’t sound great, consider that the Magic missed a whopping 62 shots tonight. In the first half alone, Orlando missed 32 shots and had just six offensive rebounds. Making stops and securing the rebound allowed Dallas to fly in transition and play faster, outscoring the Magic 19-12 in fastbreak points, with all 19 of those points coming in the first half. Coach Jason Kidd made it a point of emphasis in his media availability before this game that he wanted the team to play faster, and it is impossible to play faster without finishing defensive possessions and forcing turnovers. In addition to locking down the boards, the Mavericks also had seven steals, praying against Orlando’s inability to run a good offense without their top scorer.
Luka Doncic wakes up
The Mavericks’ best player hasn’t had a smooth start to the season, likely missing the entire preseason due to a calf injury suffered during the opening days of training camp. Doncic looked rusty and his shooting failed him in the Mavericks’ first five games. That changed tonight against Orlando.
Doncic scored 14 points in the first quarter, the most he has scored in any opening period this season, part of a bigger 25-point first half that gave Dallas a commanding 15-point lead at halftime. Doncic did most of his damage early behind the three-point line; five of his nine made field goals in the first half were threes. Doncic was 14 of 48 (29.2 percent) on threes tonight, finishing 5 of 13 against the Magic. The final percentage doesn’t look great, but Doncic was 5-of-10 in the first half and his shot wasn’t really needed after that.
The offense keeps the ball moving
Offensively, the Mavericks didn’t change much from their normal halfcourt sets — still plenty of pick-and-roll and plenty of one-on-one play from Doncic and Kyrie Irving. But by making stops, causing turnovers and forcing the Magic’s defense to be on their heels, the Mavericks were at least able to get the ball moving and break some stagnation — Dallas had 25 assists on 42 field goals made.
The Mavericks had six players finish with at least two or more assists, and Naji Marshall had five assists off the bench alone. Klay Thompson couldn’t break free from three but used the extra defensive attention to set up his teammates, finishing with four assists and would have had five if not for Dereck Lively getting hacked at the rim after a nice feed from Thompson off a screen come.
There is still a lot of work to do for the Mavericks offense in the half court, and they need to keep Doncic and Irving from working the ball. Small steps were taken tonight to help with that, mainly fueled by the transition offense. The Mavericks have slowly reshaped their roster with more players who can dribble and pass, to be less reliant on the brilliance of their star duo tonight and showed a clear vision of that plan – even if Doncic was stellar with 32 points.
