Dallas Basketball

'Locking It Down': Doncic, Shorthanded Mavs Stifle Wizards, 109-87

After an encouraging win against the New York Knicks the night before, Luka Doncic and shorthanded Dallas Mavericks kept the good defensive play going in a 109-87 win over the Washington Wizards.

Dalton Trigg

Coming off a big defensive effort against the New York Knicks the night before, Luka Doncic and the shorthanded Dallas Mavericks went into Washington D.C. on the second night of a back-to-back and outlasted Russell Westbrook and the Wizards, 109-87.

READ MORE: Gasol Wants Out Of Lakers? Mavs Should Want In

Despite Kristaps Porzingis and Maxi Kleber sitting this one out, Doncic was still able to lead his team to the win, as he does more times than not. 

Doncic finished the game with 26 points on 12-of-24 shooting to go with eight rebounds, six assists, one steal and one block in just 32 minutes of play. Jalen Brunson, who has taken an incredible leap in his third season, was the Mavs' second leading scorer with 19 points off the bench. Brunson also shot 50-percent from the field.

Russell Westbrook led the way for the Wizards with 26 points, 14 rebounds and five assists. Washington was also shorthanded in this game, missing Bradley Beal due to a hip injury. Beal is currently the NBA's leading scorer, averaging 31.3 points per game.

Due to all the absences, Dallas rolled out a brand new starting lineup tonight. Surprisingly, all five Mavs starters scored double-digits, including 10 points from newcomer Nicolo Melli, who was a perfect 4-of-4 from the field. Boban Marjanovic, who got the start at center in place of Porzingis, finished the game with a big 15 points and 12 rebounds in only 24 minutes of play.

How did Boban do it?

 "Thank you, Luka,'' he said on postgame TV. "Great passes. Continue to do that."

And what did Rick Carlisle, bouncing back from a positive COVID test 24 hours before in New York (causing him to miss that game while returning for this one) think of Boban?

READ MORE: Boban's Big Hands Star In New Commercial

"Boban's got a lot going on,'' Rick joked, then referring to Boban's Goldfish snack TV ad. "It's good he fits us in around his commercial-making schedule."

The win for Dallas tonight marked the end of a five-game road trip, one they finished with an encouraging 4-1 record. The Mavs, now six games above .500 for the first time all season (27-21), will now return to Dallas to take on a very good Utah Jazz team on Monday night. The Jazz are currently the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference with a 37-11 record. Dallas will play nine of its next 11 games at home. Will we finally get to see the debut of J.J. Redick during that timeframe? Stay tuned!

CONTINUE READING: Redick Aims To Help '2 Mavs Unicorns' To Playoff Success

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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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