Doncic, Hardaway's Epic 3-Point Shooting Not Sustainable, But Mavs' Winning Could Be
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A lot of things have gone right lately for the Dallas Mavericks, who have won four of their last five games. The historic 3-point shooting from Luka Doncic and Tim Hardaway Jr. has been the biggest reason for Dallas' recent surge, and it could potentially have a ripple effect across the rest of the roster when it comes to overall confidence.
As good as Doncic and Hardaway have been – the duo recently became the only pair of teammates to make at least four 3s in a five-game stretch in NBA history – their otherworldly numbers just aren't sustainable for 58 more regular-season games. That's not to say that they won't shoot well overall the rest of the way, but it's just not realistic to expect both Doncic and Hardaway to continue to shoot between 46.0-54.5 percent from deep.
However, the hot shooting could be infectious for other Mavericks who are currently struggling, as Dorian Finney-Smith, Maxi Kleber and Reggie Bullock have shot under their usual marks from deep for most of the season. If the Mavs can get all of those guys back to shooting their normal percentages on a more consistent basis, Dallas will have a much better chance of living up to its preseason expectations.
Before Tuesday's gutsy win at Denver on the second night of a back-to-back, the Mavs hadn't won a game this season when Doncic didn't reach the 30-point mark. Hardaway continuing his career-best heater with a team-high 29 points was nice to see, but it was even better for Dallas to see Finney-Smith break out of his shooting slump by putting up 19 points and hitting 5-10 from deep – including a clutch shot from the top of the arc that gave the Mavs the lead for good.
“I’d gotten that shot two possessions before that, and [Luka] told me to shoot it again," said Finney-Smith. "So that feels good when the best player on the team – you know they’re going to trap him – but for him to give me confidence, that means a lot.
"Just [Tim's] mentally — him not playing last year, obviously put that fuel in his back. He's playing great right now. I'm just trying to feed off his energy. I finally got some to go in tonight, too."
This recent hot stretch is starting to rub off on Kleber as well. Through his first 16 games, he shot 30 percent from deep, which was nearly six full percentage points less than his career average. Over his last four games, though, Kleber is shooting 47.1 percent on 4.3 attempts from deep per game.
Reggie Bullock has continued to struggle, as he's shooting a career-worst 29.7 percent from the field and 27.6 percent from deep. He's always gotten off to slow starts throughout his career, but this season's slow start has been worse than usual. If the Mavs are able to win four of their last five games with Bullock playing at least 20 minutes per game, shooting under 30 percent and not playing the same level of defense that helped propel Dallas to the Western Conference Finals, imagine what could happen if his numbers start to regress to the mean as the season progresses.
The hope is that Bullock will eventually get to where he needs to be, but in the meantime, the Mavs have to be encouraged by seeing guys other than Doncic step up big when needed. Crazy individual shooting numbers might not be sustainable for a full season, but playing together as a team and taking turns stepping up can be.
"We're guarding a lot better," said Finney-Smith. "Eventually, guys will make shots. It's a long season, so we just got to guard [and] keep taking these open shots with confidence. Luka always draws two [defenders], so we just gotta do our job and kill the 4-on-3."
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