Spencer Dinwiddie Bounced Back When Mavs Needed Most vs. Jazz

Dallas Mavericks guard Spencer Dinwiddie largely struggled in the first round but stepped up against the Utah Jazz when needed most.

After the Dallas Mavericks moved on from Kristaps Porzingis in a major trade with the Washington Wizards, Spencer Dinwiddie didn't take long to make a substantial impact. He filled the needed third guard role — providing depth and another complement to Luka Doncic and Jalen Brunson.

In 23 regular season appearances with the Mavericks, Dinwiddie provided impressive averages of 15.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 3.9 assists. He achieved those numbers excellently as he shot 49.8 percent from the floor and 40.4 percent from beyond the arc.

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With Doncic sidelined for the initial three games of the Mavericks' first-round series against the Jazz, more was needed from Brunson and Dinwiddie. It isn't easy to envision Brunson playing any better than he did with averages of 32.0 points and 5.3 assists during this stretch. 

Dinwiddie's averages without Doncic looked good as he put up 19.7 points and 6.7 assists in those three performances. However, he shot an abysmal 33.3 percent from the floor and 17.6 percent on 3s while averaging three turnovers. 

With the Jazz often having a rim protector on the floor, Dinwiddie was settling more often and wasn't getting to his spots with rhythm like he did in the regular season. 

“We’ve had guys struggle, and we don’t really talk about the struggle,” coach Jason Kidd said. “We talk about trust and knowing that they’re going to get out of that struggle.

“But we truly believed he was going to have a good game for us in this series, and he picked a great one to have it.”

Dinwiddie's production worsened after Doncic made his return to the lineup for Game 4 of the series. He was contained to averages of just 7.0 points and 2.0 assists while shooting 29.4 percent from the floor and 30.0 percent from beyond the arc in Games 4 & 5. 

It became apparent that the Mavericks needed Dinwiddie to turn his performance around in a hurry. He answered the call in Game 6 with 19 points while shooting 7-12 (58.3 percent) overall and 4-7 (58.3 percent) from deep.

Dinwiddie's first bucket came from leaking out in transition after Doncic managed to come up with a block. He wasted no time getting out on the break and used it to his advantage on the catch — forcing a fly-by from the trailing defender using a fake. 

Dinwiddie stayed aggressive, seeking opportunities to attack in semi-transition to get to the rim. He drew contact from Bojan Bogdanovic and converted an and-one on a floater on one of his takes and got to the rim for a layup on a later possession. 

Despite his struggles throughout the series, Dinwiddie had shown to be able to attack the Jazz's bigs in isolation. To slow down a big run from Utah, he drew Gobert on a deep switch and retreated out to the corner — resulting in a side-step 3.

Dinwiddie was most effective in the second half when spacing the floor. He stayed ready to convert from beyond the arc when the defense collapsed in the paint. The ball naturally found its way to the open man, and it was up to Dinwiddie to convert, and he did on three attempts. 

The impact the Mavericks received from Dinwiddie in Game 6, especially when he shared the floor with Brunson and Doncic in the second half, proved to be difference-making. They outscored the Jazz by seven points in 16 minutes when the trio shared the floor.

“We made shots and got back into the game,” Dinwiddie said. “We were down 12, and we built the lead to seven or nine or whatever. It worked tonight. I think he’s going to continue to be flexible in what he does to get us wins.”

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Against the Phoenix Suns, the Mavericks will surely need Dinwiddie to make a substantial impact. Whether it's as one of the top options leading the bench unit or playing in part of the team's three-guard lineup, he will be vital to Dallas' results. 

The Mavericks need Dinwiddie to be more efficient on his shot creation attempts than in the first round. His output of just 0.533 points per possession (PPP) on off the dribble attempts within the half-court was greater than only Trae Young compared to the 21 players with at least 25 attempts. 

The finishing around the basket from Dinwiddie wasn't much better than his execution on shot creation attempts, either. He was limited to just 0.7 PPP on finishes within the half-court — ranking 29th among the 30 players with at least 20 attempts. 

In the regular season, the Mavericks struggled against the Suns, but none of those matchups occurred after the Porzingis trade. If Dinwiddie can execute better now that he isn't facing Gobert's paint protection, Dallas could go a long way in the postseason.