Dallas Basketball

'Bounce-Back!': Luka Doncic, Tim Hardaway Jr. Lead Mavs' Rout of Raptors, 103-95

Luka Doncic, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Kristaps Porzingis leveled-up in the Dallas Mavericks' second game of the season, as the team captured the first win in Toronto against the Raptors since 2014.

Dalton Trigg

The Dallas Mavericks never envisioned their 2021-22 campaign starting out as poorly as it did in Atlanta on Thursday night, but the good news is that this is the NBA, and there's alway an opportunity for a bounce-back performance in this 82-game marathon season.

On Saturday night in Toronto, the Mavs did just that against the Raptors with a 103-95 win on the road to capture their first win of the season. For whatever reasons, the vibes in Toronto have just been off for the Mavs for the better half of a decade. This win was Dallas' first in Toronto since 2014.

After having a lackluster game by his lofty standards in the season opener, superstar Luka Doncic followed that with a very well-rounded performance against the Raptors, scoring 27 points, with nine rebounds and 12 assists. 

“He found the open guy,” said coach Jason Kidd.He looked at the basket when he had an opportunity to score … I thought he had an incredible game.”

Tim Hardaway Jr. was Dallas' second-leading scorer tonight, as he poured in 25 points while shooting 7-of-11 from downtown. 

Kristaps Porzingis, who performed poorly against the Hawks, also had a nice rebound game. KP scored 18 points to go with 10 rebounds, four blocks and one steal. Defensively, Porzingis made his presence felt in a big way, which is really what the Mavs need from him the most this season.

 All five Mavs' starters scored in double figures in this one.

The Mavs still didn't shoot the ball as well as they would've liked against the Raptors (42-percent), but it definitely beat the 33-percent outing that happened in Atlanta. Overall, the team looked much more comfortable with Jason Kidd at the helm tonight.

Although the Mavs got the win, we say J-Kidd should seriously consider making a change with his starting lineup. Dwight Powell ended up having a decent game overall, but starting him at center next to Porzingis is to us a recipe for Dallas continuing to get off to slow starts. Doncic needs more space to operate without multiple big bodies in the paint, and starting Porzingis at center with either Maxi Kleber or Dorian Finney-Smith at power forward would accomplish that goal.

After starting the new season with two consecutive road games, the Mavs will finally fly back to Dallas and play their season opener at American Airlines Center on Tuesday night against the I-45 rival Houston Rockets. Over the last two seasons, Dallas hasn't been able to establish a real home-court advantage. The Mavs have a home record of 41-33 and a road record of 44-30 during that span. Hopefully, Doncic and company can change that trend this season.

Need a way to help pass the time between now and Tuesday night? Catch up on the latest episodes of our Mavs Step Back Podcast:

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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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