Mavs Bounce Back At Warriors With Stunning Win
The Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday slaughtered the Golden State Warriors, 133-103, on the second night of a back-to-back.
“Everybody was pissed off because we didn’t play good (in a Monday loss at the Kings),” Luka Doncic said.
Big picture, the Mavs (34-27) win keeps them in sole position of the six seed in the Western Conference, which avoids the NBA Playoffs play-in tournament. Smaller picture, it is a nice bounce-back from the ugly Mavs loss in Sacramento Monday night.
The switch evidence? We go from a befuddled Luka Doncic last night to a smiling and high-fiving Doncic tonight.
READ MORE: Mavs' Luka Doncic Named Western Conference Player of Week
The Mavs grabbed a 36-12 lead in the first quarter, going on a 28-0 run spanning two quarters as the Warriors missed 17 consecutive shots. The streak is now the longest unanswered points run by any NBA team this season. Golden State's shooting woes continued, scoring only 29 points in the first half. It was the lowest-scoring Warriors half during Steve Kerr’s coaching tenure.
Trey Burke made his first start of the season here, after appearing off the bench in each of his first 50 Dallas games in 2020-21. Burke played the entire first quarter and displayed impressive defense on the virtually-unstoppably Steph Curry . Curry was averaging an outstanding 38.1 points per game in April, but tonight only scored 12 in the first half.
Said coach Rick Carlisle: “Chasing Stephen Curry around has got to be the hardest job in all of basketball – pro, college, international – you name it. The guy has been on just a historic tear over the last month, and Trey Burke rose to the challenge. He just chased him all over the place ...''
The Warriors sloppy play also included 17 turnovers. Dallas' bench outscored the Warriors bench 50-22, with much thanks to 13 points from Tim Hardaway Jr., 13 from Nikolo Melli and 12 points from Jalen Brunson. Doncic led the team with 39 points, eight assists, and six rebounds in 28 minutes... the most Doncic has ever scored in three quarters for Dallas.
Dallas extended the lead to 39 points entering the fourth quarter, controlling every aspect of the game to cruise to the blowout victory.
The Mavs were without Kristaps Porzingis (ankle) and Josh Richardson (hamstring) - he third straight game missed for the two Mavs starters.
Next up, the Mavs' three-game road trip concludes Thursday night in Detroit before the returning home to host the Washington Wizards on Saturday.
“We’ve got to take this momentum tonight and turn it into momentum on Thursday night,” Carlisle said. “We’re just going to have to find a way to build on it. We just got to start another streak.''
