Dallas Basketball

ESPN's Kendrick Perkins: Dallas Mavs Depth, Chemistry is 'Beautiful Thing to See'

The Dallas Mavericks are on a major roll as the NBA postseason approaches, and ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins likes what he sees from Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving and the rest of their supporting staff.

Dalton Trigg

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As the Dallas Mavericks continue to mow down their competition – they've now won 14 of their last 16 games with four regular-season contests remaining – the national media is starting to realize just how special this team could be.

The latest example of this comes from former NBA player and current ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins, who had some flattering things to say about the Mavs while putting them on his "Big Perk's Big List: Rest-of-West Threats" list. These comments came one day after Dallas erased a 22-point deficit to defeat the Houston Rockets in a thrilling 147-136 overtime game on Sunday.

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“It’s been a beautiful thing to see," Perkins said of the Mavs' success and chemistry. "I love the depth that they have. Getting P.J. Washington…I love what [Daniel] Gafford and [Dereck] Lively is doing, Tim Hardaway Jr…He’s been balling. The head of the snake in Jason Kidd, he can coach his behind off.”

Now obviously Perkins doesn't watch many Mavs games if he truly believes Tim Hardaway Jr. has been "balling" lately, but to be completely fair, Hardaway has done a good job of doing other things than just scoring lately. The best example of this came in the Mavs' 108-106 win over the Golden State Warriors on Friday night, as Hardaway took a pass from Kyrie Irving, who was being doubled, took Klay Thompson off the dribble while driving into the paint, and throwing a pass to a cutting P.J. Washington for the game-winning layup.

One thing Perkins is 100-percent right about, though, is that it's a "beautiful thing" seeing the Mavs play the way they have in the second half of the season. In early February, the Mavs were 26-23, and now, thanks to a dominant 22-7 run, they're 48-30 and threatening the Los Angeles Clippers for home-court advantage in the Western Conference.

Not only is this Mavs team the most deep and talented we've seen since the 2011 championship run, but Doncic, Irving and the rest of the guys seem to have similar chemistry as well. Trust and confidence is at an all-time high across the board, and the Mavs are excited to carry that high into the NBA Playoffs, which will begin on April 20.

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Dalton Trigg
DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.

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