'Block Party!': Doncic & Porzingis Power Mavs Past Morant's Grizzlies
After coming off a disheartening loss to the NBA-leading Phoenix Suns on Thursday night, the Dallas Mavericks bounced back in a big way with a 104-91 win over their division rival Memphis Grizzlies. With the win, the Mavs, now 27-20 on the season, pull to within four games of the Grizzlies in the Western Conference standings, while also clinching the season series with Memphis, 3-1.
Luka Doncic, who was passed by Ja Morant in NBA All-Star voting this season, finished the night with 37 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists while shooting 13-of-25 from the field and 8-of-10 from the free throw line. Doncic has now missed recording a triple-double by either one rebound or one assist 17 times in his career. After having on off night on defense against Phoenix, Doncic portrayed some of that much-improved individual defense tonight by recording three steals and a block.
"Yeah, he's special," said head coach Jason Kidd. "No matter what the stage … and those two (Doncic and Morant) showed up tonight and put on a show. Luka was finding guys, Luka was aggressive.
"And I know he wouldn't want me to say this, but he was great on defense. He had the total package today, not just with offensive stats, but defensively, he was great tonight."
Speaking of blocks, Doncic's wingman, Kristaps Porzingis, finished the game with six of them. The big man, who has forged his way into All-Star consideration this season, was feeling spry on defense tonight, and also chipped in 15 points and eight rebounds while shooting 6-of-11 from the field. The Mavs had 12 blocks as a team, whereas Memphis had three.
Jalen Brunson was the only other Maverick to score in double figures with 13 points on just 3-of-8 shooting. Brunson is normally more efficient than he was on this night, but he still played a vital role in closing this one out and was a +8 in the box score plus-minus category.
Morant led the way for the shorthanded Grizzlies by putting in 35 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. Although that stat line is impressive, it took Morant 31 shot attempts to get there. Regardless, Morant continues his strong third-year campaign, and he deserves all the praise that comes along with having your team in the West's top-three.
The Mavs have now won 11 of their last 13 games. It was Dallas' third win in its last five games where it led throughout the entire game. In 17 of their last 18 games, the Mavs have held double-digit leads. The fantastic play for Dallas continues, and it will be interesting to see what the team does at the NBA trade deadline, which is less than three weeks away.
Next up, the Mavs will take on the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night in what will start a brief two-game road trip. The last time the Mavs and Warriors met, Dallas held Golden State to a season-low 82 points in a win on Dirk Nowitzki's retirement ceremony night.
