Dinwiddie & Wood Give Doncic a Boost: 3 Big Takeaways From Mavs' Win Over Blazers
Nothing alleviates the hangover from a nasty 0-2 road trip like a big-time, bounce-back win against a good team in front of a raucous home crowd.
The Dallas Mavericks (7-5) took their metaphorical Tylenol and trip to Waffle House by defeating the Portland Trail Blazers (9-4) at American Airlines Center on Saturday night, 117-112.
After shooting just 34 percent overall in his previous two games, Luka Doncic came back with a 42-point triple-double against Portland while shooting 13-22 from the field. Although Doncic was fantastic, it was his teammates’ hot shooting in crunch time that helped the Mavs finish off the Trail Blazers.
Here are our three biggest takeaways from the Mavs' big Saturday-night win:
Dinwiddie puts on a crunch-time clinic vs. Lillard
Spencer Dinwiddie is filling into Jalen Brunson's role nicely. This doesn’t mean the Mavs don’t need to find a reliable third ball-handler … it just means they need to find a guy to fill Dinwiddie’s old role from last season, not Brunson’s.
Dinwiddie has been on his A-game all season alongside Doncic in the Mavs’ starting backcourt, averaging 18.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game while shooting 49.1 percent from the field, including 45.9 percent from deep. After putting up a combined 62 points in the Mavs’ recent two-game road trip, he followed that up by dropping 20 points, seven rebounds and six assists while shooting 7-11 overall and 6-8 from deep.
With 2:50 remaining in the game, Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard nailed a gut-punch 3-pointer to give Portland a 106-103 lead. Dinwiddie answered with a three triples of his own in a little over one minute of game time to give the Mavs a 112-108 lead with 1:21 remaining. There were a handful of nice contributions for Dallas in this one, but Dinwiddie going toe-to-toe with Lillard in crunch time and beating him was the biggest one.
“They trapped Luka. Luka does a phenomenal job of becoming a problem for their defense," said Dinwiddie. "Whether that's back downs, pick-and-rolls, whatever it is. He gets two on the ball and makes the right read, right pass, and then we were just swing-swing it and found me and I was able to hit a couple of shots.
"You trust the work. You feel like you are prepared to shoot those shots. You step up and try to knock them down for the team. Whether you are in the closing lineup or not, obviously there is a certain level of pride in being there, but at the same time you trust your guys to get the W. But this is a marathon and everyone is going to contribute to our success in some form or fashion and you have to be prepared for that every night."
Dinwiddie has scored 20+ points in seven of the Mavs' 12 games so far, which already equals his total from last season with Dallas. It was his first game putting up a 20-point, five-rebound, five-assist stat line as a Maverick.
Mavs sorely missed Wood's production in recent two-game skid
If there were any doubts about how valuable Wood is to this team, just look at how his presence on Saturday night affected the Mavs in a positive way. Not only did he put up an efficient 19 points, five rebounds and two steals in 25 minutes off the bench, but he seemed to open things up for his bench running mate Tim Hardaway Jr. as well, who finished with 16 points, five assists and was a team-high +23 on the night.
Having a player of Wood's skill level available forces opponents to focus more on him and less on players around him, which is what makes the duo of Wood and Doncic so potent when they get minutes together. They connected on a handful of successful plays against Portland, and it should only get better as the season progresses.
“Very frustrating," said Wood about having to miss the recent road trip with a knee sprain. "I always feel like I can be an X-factor, and help this team out, and help this team win games. But, we bounced back and beat a good team tonight.
"I think our chemistry between me and Luka is getting better each time we play with each other on the floor. The more minutes we get with each other, the more we’re going to show people what we can do. It’s fun out there, everyone is starting to play together. We had a lot of open 3s today, some didn’t really go in, but the way we’re moving the ball and moving the ball as a team is big.”
Doncic can still get his points while his teammates feast too
Anyone who thinks Doncic's historic start to the season restricts his teammates from getting in on the action should've watched Saturday night's game as a prime example for why that line of thinking is wrong.
Doncic finished with 42 points, 13 rebounds, 10 assists, two steals and a block, but he did it all on just 22 shot attempts due to his ability to live in the paint and get to the free-throw line. He shot 15-18 from the stripe on the night.
Dinwiddie, who starts alongside Doncic, finished with 11 shot attempts. Wood had 11 shot attempts as well before fouling out of the game with a little under five minutes to play. Hardaway had 13 shot attempts. So whether Doncic is dominating a game or not, there are still plenty of opportunities for those around him. That's what makes him so special – he can drop 40+ points on any given night will also setting up his teammates and getting double-digit assists.
"Just attacking the paint. You can see the last two games I wasn't getting to the free throw line," said Doncic. "And I wasn't efficient because I wasn't going to the lane. (Portland) fouls a lot I think, and I just had to get to the paint and from there and just be aggressive.
"(A 40-point triple-double) is not routine. You saw the last two games when I really struggled. It's nice to have."
Doncic became just the sixth player in NBA history to record at least four 40+ point triple-doubles. The other five players who have done it are Oscar Robertson (22), James Harden (16), Russell Westbrook (13), Wilt Chamberlain (7) and LeBron James (6). Doncic leads the league in scoring at 34.3 points per game, and he also has a league-best three 40-point games so far.
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