‘Hotter Than Fish Grease’: Dinwiddie Sustains Hot 3-Point Shooting Since Mavs Trade
The Dallas Mavericks traded for Spencer Dinwiddie before last year's midseason trade deadline — offering a potential hedge in case of Jalen Brunson's departure to the New York Knicks in free agency. Despite a run to the Western Conference Finals run, Brunson left, and Dinwiddie has filled the role of being Luka Doncic's 'co-pilot' in the backcourt.
Through 12 performances, Dinwiddie is averaging 18.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 4.7 assists. He's doing so while shooting 49.1 percent from the floor and 45.9 percent from 3-point range. His perimeter shooting accuracy comes with actual volume, too. He ranks third in the NBA in perimeter shooting accuracy among all players taking at least six attempts per game.
Dinwiddie has found his form as a perimeter shooter since being traded to the Mavs ahead of last year's midseason deadline. He shot just 31.7 percent from the perimeter on 1,611 attempts during his 364 regular season games prior to his Mavericks tenure compared to the 42.9 percent clip he's converted at since being dealt to Dallas. What does he attribute for such a drastic change in results?
"It's a byproduct of our team, our play style," Dinwiddie said when explaining why he is shooting more efficiently from 3-point range. "I think, historically, if you look at my career, I've been a pretty solid catch-and-shoot shooter. I think I'm decent at the harder shots. I don't think anyone shoots them with extreme proficiency.
"The ratio of which I took hard 3s — late clock, end of game, step-backs — compared to the quality ones like catch-and-shoots, trailers, things like that, it's at a different ratio than it has been in my Mavericks tenure. You take more good shots and less bad shots and you start to make more bad shots because you get to find it a little bit, so I think it's kind of a product of the guys, the system, all that."
Dinwiddie has proven to be a pivotal contributor alongside Doncic — making things easier on him by shouldering some of the initiating responsibility of the half-court offense. However, he's also been instrumental in leading the Mavs' plug-and-play lineups throughout games when Doncic isn't on the floor.
"Since the beginning of the season, he's been great," Doncic said of Dinwiddie. "Not everything you can see in the stat sheet. Sometimes he will score a lot, but he helps me a lot, specifically in the backcourt."
Since being held to just two points against the Brooklyn Nets on Monday, Dinwiddie has taken his game to a new level. He scored a combined 82 points over his last three performances while shooting 27-47 from the floor and 11-22 from 3-point range. Additionally ,he dished out 11 assists.
With the need to avoid losing a third consecutive game, the Mavs needed Doncic's teammates to step up down the stretch of their 117-112 win over the Portland Trail Blazers. The defense was sending double-teams at Doncic — requiring him to move the ball.
Dinwiddie was the recipient of the ball on numerous late-game possessions against the Trail Blazers. There were three consecutive possessions in clutch-time that ended with Dinwiddie taking and making a 3-pointer. The first tied the game at 106-106 with 2:35 left to play. The others ultimately put the Mavs ahead by a 4-point margin with 1:21 left to play.
“They trapped Luka [Doncic]," Dinwiddie said. "Luka does a phenomenal job of becoming a problem for their defense. 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."
The impact that Dinwiddie was offered the Mavs goes well beyond just 3-point shooting, but regardless, continuing to convert at a high clip goes a long way when playing alongside a high usage superstar like Doncic. He's made his greatest impact as a threat in isolation situations and pick-and-rolls. He can also push the pace and get aggressive attacking the rim in semi-transition along with simply bringing the ball up to initiate the half-court offense.
Dinwiddie is coming off his first regular offseason since tearing his ACL a few years ago. Instead of focusing on rehabbing his knee and not overdoing it, he was able to work on his game to improve in key areas. He's also been able to not only play in both parts of a back-to-back, but make a real impact.
"Just continue to get better," Dinwiddie said about playing back-to-backs this season. "Time heals all. Continue to work. We have a phenomenal training staff, a great weight lifting staff. The people I worked with back home over the summer did a phenomenal job. It's really just a product of the work and the great people that are on staff working every day."
The Mavs have seemingly found their backcourt partner next to Doncic despite Brunson's departure. The next step will be to find a third perimeter creator to form a more layered attack and to have the necessary depth to better stay afloat in the event of an injury to either Doncic or Dinwiddie.
For now, though, Dinwiddie is “hotter than fish grease,” as ESPN’s play-by-play man Mark Jones loves to say, and it doesn’t appear that he’s planning on cooling off anytime soon.
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