Mavs Thursday Donuts: 'You'd Better Believe It'
DONUT 1: WE HAVE OURSELVES A SERIES, PEOPLE!
After the controversial ejection of Kristaps Porzingis in a close Game 1 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, the Dallas Mavericks bounced back in a big way on Wednesday night with a thrilling 127-114 win to tie the series at one game apiece.
READ MORE: Whitt -
Mavs Cling & Crush Clippers, 127-114 In Game 2
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Dallas led the game from start to finish, something they hadn't done in the playoffs since Game 3 their 2011 sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers. If Porzingis hadn't been ejected in the third quarter of Game 1, it's reasonable to believe that the Mavs could have a 2-0 series lead as the seventh seed in the West.
That alone should give the Mavs - who are taking Thursday off as a day of rest inside the NBA bubble in Orlando - all the confidence they need heading into Friday's Game 3 and beyond.
DONUT 2: LUKA DONCIC, THE HISTORIAN
Luka Doncic continued to shine in what was only his second-ever playoff game. Doncic followed up his 42-point, nine-assist and seven-rebound performance with 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in just 28 minutes of play in Game 2. The biggest stat for Doncic, though, was that he only had one turnover in Game 2 after having 11 in the first game. Doncic also hit a clutch bucket down the stretch in the fourth quarter that all-but-guaranteed the win for Dallas.
If it weren't for being in foul trouble in the second half, Doncic might have replicated his numbers from the first game of the series. It seems as if every night, Doncic is breaking some sort of NBA record and making history. In his first two playoff games, Doncic has put up 70 points, which is the most for anyone in their first two playoff games since the NBA/ABA merger.
DONUT 3: BOUNCE-BACK FOR PORZINGIS
Porzingis made sure to keep his emotions completely in check for this one, as he played 36 minutes and finished with 23 points, seven rebounds and a block while shooting 3-of-4 from deep and 6-of-8 from the free-throw line.
Although Doncic has led the Mavs in both games so far, Porzingis still figures to be the x-factor in this series, being that he is a mismatch for any player the Clippers want to throw at him.
If Porzingis can stay healthy and play like he did last night, the Mavs could shock the NBA world.
DONUT 4: IS THE BENCH MOB BACK?
After Dwight Powell and Jalen Brunson suffered unfortunate season-ending injuries, the Mavs bench just never looked the same way it did early on in the season. The you factor in that big man Willie Cauley-Stein opted out of playing in the bubble, and the Mavs bench was left pretty thin in Orlando.
However, the addition of Trey Burke, paired with Rick Carlisle moving Seth Curry to the bench to go with a bigger starting lineup against the Clippers, revitalized the Mavs' bench in Game 2, as they outscored the Clippers' bench, which features two Sixth Man of the Year candidates in Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell, 47-37. For at least one game, the Mavs were glad to see signs of their 'Bench Mob' again.
Burke and Curry finished with a combined 31 of the Mavs' 47 bench points on 13-of-20 shooting from the field.
DONUT 5: SHOOTING THE LIGHTS OUT
On our Mavs Step Back Podcast, before the playoffs started, we talked extensively about how vitally important it was that the Mavs shoot well from the three-point line in this series. On the year, the Mavs, as a team, shot near 37 percent from deep, but just 31 percent from deep when facing the Clippers in three regular-season games.
After shooting 35 percent from deep in Game 1, Dallas was scorching the nets in Game 2 to the tune of 45 percent.
Even a team as defensively talented as the Clippers will have a hard time overcoming that kind of shooting performance, and the Mavs, having recorded the best offense in NBA history this season, will try to keep riding that momentum into Game 3.
DONUT 6: BOBAN SHINES ON AND OFF THE COURT
Boban Marjanovic only played 10 minutes in Game 2, but as he's done throughout his entire career, he made the absolute most of those minutes by putting up 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting and grabbing nine rebounds.
The fun didn't stop for Boban after the game ended though, as the TNT crew of Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal had him on for a feel-good interview before calling it a night.
This is the kind of content we need more of for the remainder of the Mavs' playoff run.
DONUT 7: PLAYOFF RICK IN FULL EFFECT
Rick Carlisle, as good as he is as a coach overall, is known for being an even better coach in the playoffs. He's a mad scientist in a way, always knowing just how much to put in each of his flasks and when it's time to shake things up. In Game 1, Carlisle opted to start Maxi Kleber in place of Seth Curry in order to go bigger against the Clippers. After a rough start to that first game, you had to wonder if it was just nerves or if Carlisle had messed up.
In Game 2, though, he stuck to that same starting lineup of Doncic, Tim Hardaway Jr., Dorian Finney-Smith, Kleber and Porzingis, a starting five Dallas only used once in the regular season. It worked in a big way in Game 2, and as mentioned earlier, you have to wonder where the Mavs would be right now if Porzingis hadn't been ejected in the first game. Playoff Rick might just be on to something here...
DONUT 8: FUTURE FREE AGENCY IMPLICATIONS?
Whether the young Mavs are able to pull off a series upset over the Clippers or not, you have to believe that other players around the league are taking notice of what's currently going down in Dallas. The Mavs have a great basketball culture, a generational superstar who loves to get his teammates involved, a great secondary superstar who is a mismatch nightmare for any team the Mavs play, and a future Hall of Fame head coach.
Last offseason, the idea of all of this coming together for the Mavs was just that... an idea. Now, though, the results are there. Guys around the league can actually see what Doncic, Porzingis and the Mavs are capable of now, and that should pay dividends the next time the Mavs go shopping in free agency (or if a certain players wants to try to force a trade to Dallas).
DONUT 9: MAVS STEP BACK POD WITH CUBAN PT. 1
On Monday, before the Mavs started their first postseason in more than four years, Mark Cuban took the time to sit down with us on our Mavs Step Back Pod to discuss a handful of Mavs-related topics, including his review of the team's regular season results overall.
"We showed some really good things," Cuban told us. "We made some young team mistakes that hurt us, but we showed when we beat the Bucks... we showed we can beat anybody. We showed we can be good. We just have to get our guys making shots and playing a little better defense, and anything is possible."
DONUT 10: MAVS STEP BACK POD WITH CUBAN PT. 2
Cuban then, more specifically, went on to talk about how he wasn't surprised by Doncic upping his play to MVP-type levels in just his second season.
"Every year for our guys, I'll always text them, I'll always call them and say, 'what are you going to add to your game?' ... I asked him, I said, 'Luka, what are you going to add to your game,' and he said, 'improve with my left (hand), finishing with my left.' So, he went from being a below-average finisher around the basket to being a top-3 finisher in the NBA. Once I saw that when he came back, I knew."
You can watch and listen to our entire interview with Cuban right here (also, be sure to subscribe to us on your favorite podcast platform to get notified every time a new episode drops):
DONUT 11: QUOTABLE
“A lot of guys stepped up,” said Porzingis. “Boban played great, Trey was really good today, Tim (Hardaway Jr.) and a lot of guys stepped up and gave us a lot of energy. Doe Doe (Dorian Finney-Smith) hit some big shots, and whenever Luka wasn’t on the court, there were a lot of guys that could step up and play well and give us something.
"Offense is one thing, but I feel like we made a step forward defensively, in terms of our poise throughout the game and those might be even more important than the rest of the stuff. For us as a young team and I feel like we’re heading in the right direction, and this was just a win to show us that we’re capable of doing these things.”
DONUT 12: THE FINAL WORD
"Any series that we're going to go in, we're going to believe, for sure," said Doncic after the Mavs thrilling Game 2 victory over the Clippers. "If you don't believe it, you're not supposed to be here, so you'd better believe it."
