Doncic Dazzles, Mavs Break Down Grant's Pistons as Trade Deadline Looms
After back-to-back thrilling wins over the Philadelphia 76ers and Atlanta Hawks, The Dallas Mavericks were able to keep the momentum going and extend their winning streak to three games with a 116-86 win over the Detroit Pistons at American Airlines Center on Tuesday night.
"I think we learned form the past, you can't take anybody lightly," said Jason Kidd of his team's mindset against Detroit. "I thought the energy and effort was great for 48 minutes. For those guys that played there at the end, I thought they played the right way and continued to work on our (good) habits."
Not only did Kidd's team take care of business like it was supposed to, but he also had a wholesome moment with Luka Doncic early in the fourth quarter.
Doncic told Kidd that he wanted to stay out on the floor despite the game being a blowout.
“I asked just to close out the game,” said Doncic. “Just let me get a couple more (minutes) and we were up by then by a lot. … I mean, not 48 (minutes, though), I’ve got to rest a little bit.”
Doncic, who has been playing at an All-NBA First Team level lately, continued his hot streak by putting up 33 points, seven rebounds and 11 assists in 33 minutes of play. Doncic shot 9-of-18 from the field, 5-of-9 from deep and 10-of-14 from the free-throw line.
The 22-year-old superstar got quite a bit of help from his supporting cast tonight, as all four of the other starters joined him in double-digit scoring. Six Mavericks total finished with double-digit points. Jalen Brunson was Dallas' second-leading scorer with 21 points on a very efficient 7-of-11 from the field. Brunson also dished out four assists in his 26 minutes.
Trey Burke, who has only appeared in 30 games for the Mavs this season, provided a big spark off the bench with 18 points while hitting 4-of-5 from deep. It has been a group effort for the Mavs bench to make up for the absence of Tim Hardaway Jr., and tonight it was Burke who picked up most of the slack.
"(Burke's) getting minutes," said Kidd. "We've kind of put him ahead of Frank (Ntilikina) right now, (but) not because of anything Frank has done."
The Mavs have been connected to Jerami Grant in numerous trade rumors, but he didn't necessarily have the greatest showcase tonight in order for Dallas to truly 'up the ante' in a trade offer to Detroit. Grant finished with just 15 points and three rebounds while shooting 5-of-14 from the field. Grant would certainly still be an excellent fit with this Mavs roster, but you can see why the Dallas front office would be hesitant to trade a player like Brunson for him.
Will the Mavs make a move before the NBA trade deadline on Thursday at 2 p.m. central time? We have less than 48 hours to find out.
"It's here," said Kidd. "It gets real crazy the last 48 hours. ... The guys aren't paying attention to that (though). They're going out and doing their job."
Next up, the Mavs will take on the Los Angeles Clippers two games in a row to finish off their season-high six-game homestand. The Mavs and Clippers have had their fair share of intense playoff battles over the last two seasons, but with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George both out with injures, this particular set of games might not have the same amount of juice as those postseason moments did.
