Mavericks vs. Trail Blazers: 3 Deciding Factors In Dallas' Win
The Dallas Mavericks (51-30) defeated the Portland Trail Blazer (27-54) on Friday with 128-78 being the final score. The Mavs clinched home-court advantage in a playoff series for the first-time since their 2011 NBA Finals run.
Perhaps the biggest storyline of the game was Luka Doncic being called for a technical foul at the end of the first quarter. He now has 16 techs on the season and unless the NBA decides to rescind it, he will be suspended for the regular season finale.
Here are the three biggest factors that decided the outcome of the Mavericks' blowout win:
Trail Blazers' Lack of Available Talent
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
It's no secret that the Trail Blazers are tanking in order to potentially obtain a better draft pick, and they've become quite good at it. Most of their current starting lineup would struggle to get much playing time on many other NBA teams.
Damian Lillard played his final game of his season on New Year's Eve. The Trail Blazers were 13-22 through 35 games at that point, but have since gone 14-32. Portland even lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder – another tanking team – on Tuesday after leading by as many as 19 points at one point.
Even when the Mavericks were emptying the bench in the fourth quarter, they arguably had comparable talent to what the Trail Blazers had on the floor for much of the night.
Luka Doncic Picks Apart the 'Tank' Blazers
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
The Trail Blazers have deployed an aggressive defensive scheme under first-year coach Chauncey Billups. Their strategy to attempt to slow down Luka Doncic was no exception. Like most of their performances this season, though, what they attempted to accomplish on defense did not translate to success.
Through three quarters of action, Doncic racked up 39 points, 11 rebounds, and seven assists. Doncic scored 25 points in the third quarter alone. If his 16th technical foul doesn't get rescinded, and Friday night truly was his last game of the regular season, Doncic went out with a bang.
The Mavericks got to work early, attacking the Trail Blazers by using the two-man game of Doncic and Dwight Powell. There was no shortage of favorable opportunities for Powell inside, as he finished with 18 points while shooting 7-7 from the field.
Massive Scoring Efficiency Disparity
By finishing the night shooting 20-45 (44.4 percent) from beyond the arc, the Mavericks held a 39-point advantage alone on 3s. For reference, the Trail Blazers shot just 7-32 (21.9 percent) on their shots from deep.
Doncic personally accounted for the same number of made 3s as the whole Trail Blazers team with seven despite not stepping on the court for any part of the fourth quarter.
The execution on two-point field goals featured a significant gap between the Mavericks (64.7 percent) and Trail Blazers (47.1 percent), too. In the end, there was a 24.9 percent advantage in true shooting percentage for Dallas.
