On Surreal Night at AAC, Mavs Surprise Nuggets to Snap Two-Game Skid
Before the Dallas Mavericks (40-27) took on the Denver Nuggets (43-22) at American Airlines Center on Wednesday night, nobody knew it would be the last time both teams would play a game for the foreseeable future. At the beginning of the third quarter, the NBA announced that it has decided to suspend the season for the indefinitely due to rising concerns over the Coronavirus pandemic (the OKC-Utah game was postponed earlier tonight after it was made known that Rudy Gobert tested positive for the virus).
"This is so far out of the realm of reality that it feels more like a movie," said Mavs owner Mark Cuban in a court-side interview with ESPN shortly after the news broke.
Despite all the hysteria around the league following the NBA's announcement, the game between the Mavs and Nuggets was played in its entirety, and Dallas came out on top with a huge 113-97 win to end a two-game losing streak. With the win, the Mavs continued their season-long streak of not losing more than two games in a row - something no other team in the league has been able to do.
With Kristaps Porzingis, Seth Curry and Dorian Finney-Smith sitting out, Luka Doncic continued to fill up the stat sheet, as he always does, scoring 28 points to go with nine assists, six rebounds and two steals. More impressively, Doncic did this while only turning the ball over twice in 40 minutes of play.
As good as Doncic was in this game, though, Boban Marjanovic was even better. After making his second start of the season at center, Marjanovic posted a new career-high 31 points to go with 17 rebounds in just 31 minutes.
“I think we played great, like a team tonight,” said Marjanovic. “It was important because Denver is a great team, and they played amazing. They are one of the top three teams. It’s hard to beat them when they play on the road. We came to play even though we are missing a couple of players. I think we played a great game in the end like the score shows.”
Before the season began, we wrote about how Marjanovic was one of the most efficient players in NBA history, despite not having the biggest sample size.
On this night, Marjanovic showed what that efficiency looks like at its peak, as he put up those numbers on one of the best centers in the league in Nikola Jokic.
“He is the best big guy in the NBA,” said Marjanovic of Jokic. “He’s a very good friend ... It’s nice to see him every time.”
In a game that had some of its charm taken away due to the NBA's Coronavirus news, it was nice to see Boban, notorious good guy, have a big night.
The next game on the Mavs' schedule was supposed to be against the Phoenix Suns at home on Saturday, but again, all NBA games have been suspended indefinitely, so now there's nothing we can do, except to wait patiently (and calmly, if possible) to see what happens next.
“Everyone is to stay in town — that’s one thing we told our guys,'' Carlisle said. “Games are suspended, team activities are not. I absolutely believe we'll have more information tomorrow and we may be able to share some of it Friday, or perhaps there may be more announcements, or perhaps not. I’m not sure.”
For now, even amid the uncertainty, enjoy and savor this big Mavs win, continue to take care of yourselves to the best of your abilities, and let's hope this serious situation de-escalates sooner than later.
