'The NBA is Crazy': The Dallas Mavs May Have Just 'Skipped A Step' Toward True Contention

An Unlikely Win At 'Unbeatable' Milwaukee (Without Luka Doncic) Means "The NBA is Crazy.'' But It Also Means The Dallas Mavs May Have Just 'Skipped A Step' Toward True Contention

DALLAS - The best way to explain the Luka-less Dallas Mavericks' shocking 120-116 win at "unbeatable'' Milwaukee? “The NBA,'' said Mavs star Kristaps Porzingis, "is crazy.''

Yes, but in the process of Dallas ending the NBA's longest winning streak - the Bucks had reeled off 18 consecutive victories - the Mavs established another "crazy'' truth:

Their ascension to contention seems to have skipped a step.

It would be one thing for the Mavs to have won a road game ... though with this 10th road success, Dallas has now won more roadies than it'd won in either of the previous two seasons.

It would be another thing if the win came against virtually any foe ... but this came against a title-contending Milwaukee team that last lost on Nov. 8.

It would be still another thing for the Mavs to somehow win a dual between Luka Doncic and Giannis Antetokounmpo, and for The Greek Freak to score 48 (as he did here) ... But Luka stayed home with his ankle injury.

Rick Carlisle was impressed with how the @dallasmavs went blow-for-blow with the hottest team in the NBA!#MFFL pic.twitter.com/NLYybwEryg

— Bally Sports Southwest (@BallySportsSW) December 17, 2019

"An 18-game winning streak is a spectacular demonstration of how good a team is,” said coach Rick Carlisle, surely knowing that beating a team on an 18-game streak is also a spectacular demonstration of how good a team is.

Dallas 120, Milwaukee 114 (gamer here) started with the road team being an 11-point underdog and ended with the Mavs being the first team in NBA history to snap a single-season win streak of 15-plus games without its leading scorer.

Porzingis, who made two huge deep 3's late in the game and combined with "step-up guy'' Seth Curry to score 52, was asked if he'd like to send a message back home to Doncic. 

"Get healthy, '' KP said. "We need you back."

According to @kporzee, it was a total team effort that led to the @dallasmavs' win over the Bucks!#MFFL pic.twitter.com/HO7quAeTCk

— Bally Sports Southwest (@BallySportsSW) December 17, 2019

Ah, but the Mavericks don't need to do so with Doncic, who could miss two weeks with his moderate right ankle sprain. No, they are too busy sending messages to the NBA.

"We want to come into every game, no matter if it's on the road or at home, and we want to win," Porzingis said. "We still have a lot to work on, we have a lot of room to grow as a team. But today was a step forward for us."

That's the message: Dallas is in the process of "skipping a step.'' That is, the 0-to-60 process of accelerating from being a high-lotto team to being a top-four seed. Rationally, it ought to take a couple of years of being bad, a couple of years of being good, then maybe, if you're lucky, you get to be 18-8 and in third place in the West.

"Amazing," said Antetokounmpo, characterizing the Bucks' streak ... but using a word that is just as appropriate in describing the "Skip-a-Step'' Mavs.