Doncic's 'Incredible Defense': 3 Big Takeaways From Mavs' Blowout Win Over Grizzlies
The Dallas Mavericks knew they had a lot of positives to take away from their season-opening loss to the Phoenix Suns despite blowing a 22-point lead. Luka Doncic got off to a roaring start to his MVP campaign by scoring 35 points, Christian Wood put up 25 points off the bench despite only playing 24 minutes, and the Mavs still had a shot to win the game at the end despite missing 13 free throws on the night.
Dallas took the lessons it learned from the loss to Phoenix and applied them to its home opener against the previously undefeated Memphis Grizzlies. Doncic and Wood were stellar yet again, and this time, the Mavs finished the job to the tune of 137-96 to capture their first win of the season.
Although the Mavs are 1-1, it feels like they should be 2-0 ... and they're showing signs of potentially being one of the top teams in the Western Conference this season. Let's take a look at some of the biggest takeaways from Saturday night.
Doncic's MVP Candidacy is Real This Time
Doncic has been the preseason MVP favorite for three consecutive years now, but he didn't start the season in great overall shape the previous two years. That is definitely not an issue this time around, as Doncic appears to already be in midseason form thanks to a productive summer of playing basketball overseas and working on his conditioning.
Through two games, Doncic is averaging 33.5 points, eight rebounds, eight assists, one block and 1.5 steals while shooting 47.8 percent overall. He's only shooting 31.6 percent on 3s so far, but he's hitting free-throws at a 94-percent clip, which is a significant boost from his career average of 74 percent in that department.
Doncic is having so much fun and playing at such a high level that the scorekeeper at American Airlines Center didn't credit him with an assists on this play to Dorian Finney-Smith because he simply thought it was a badly-missed layup.
"That was a pass," said Doncic after the game. "I'm not going to (attempt) a layup and not touch the rim."
The competition for MVP is stout with the likes of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid playing at such high levels, but Doncic appears to truly be in that playing field this year by avoiding a slow start.
The Doncic-Wood Duo is What We Thought the Doncic-Porzingis Duo Would Be
This is not throwing shade at Kristaps Porzingis, who mainly just wasn't able to stay healthy during his Dallas tenure, but Wood is simply a much better fit next to Doncic. A quick list of things Wood is better at include: rebounding, being more mobile on the perimeter, handling the ball, shooting 3s efficiently, understanding his role alongside Doncic and maximizing it.
Even when Porzingis was completely healthy, there were times where his chemistry with Doncic just seemed off. That's not the case with Wood, as Doncic and his new versatile big man appear to have instant chemistry from the jump.
During the win over Memphis, there was one electric transition play where Doncic told Wood what was going to happen before it happened a few seconds later.
“He actually knew exactly what he was going to do that whole entire play," said Wood. "He told me just catch the lob, I’m just gonna get to the paint and stay and be the dunker. That’s one of the incredible plays he makes. Being on the receiving end of it is fun.”
Through two games, Wood is averaging 25 points, 10 rebounds, 2.5 assists and one block in just 24.7 minutes off the bench. He's shooting 55.6 percent from the field and 50 percent from deep. If this level of play continues, not only will Wood win Sixth Man of the Year – assuming he doesn't eventually become a starter – but he'll be an All-Star alongside Doncic this season as well.
Mavs – and Doncic – Playing Tough Defense
When coach Jason Kidd took over last season, Dallas got a facelift on the defensive end of the court. The Mavs went from being a bottom-10 defense to a top-five defense in a short period of time, and coming into the new season, many wondered if they'd be able to sustain that.
So far, so good, as the Mavs held their first two opponents to 107 and 96 points respectively. After getting Phoenix to turn the ball over 12 times on Wednesday, Dallas got Memphis to turn it over 17 times on Saturday. The swarming tenacity of the Mavs' main perimeter defenders – Dorian Finney-Smith, Reggie Bullock and Josh Green – puts a lot of pressure on opponents.
We'll see if this is sustainable throughout the season, but given what we saw last year, would we really be surprised if Dallas was a top defense yet again? After all, even Doncic is looking engaged and effective on defense, as he did a handful of times last season as well.
"I will talk about (Luka's) offense – you guys can talk about his offense – but I thought his defense was incredible tonight," said Kidd. "One of the best defensive performances I saw. He'll tell you, too, because he had blocked shots and steals. Make sure you ask him."
Doncic had two blocks and two steals to go along with his 32 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists in 30 minutes of action ... and there were still other notable defensive plays that didn't show up in the boxscore.
“I think it was good," Doncic said of his defense. "Like I said before the season, I’ve got to improve that. I think today was great, but it’s just one game, so I’ve got to continue to do that.”
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