The Dallas Mavericks (9-23) recorded three consecutive defeats, and on the return of Dennis Smith Jr. beat the Detroit pistons (17-14) at 110:93. The rookie was particularly convincing in the second quarter, while the good bank of hosts made the difference.
The game got off to a slow start, partly because Dallas didn’t find a rhythm at first. Detroit had a small advantage, but the second unit of the Mavs found their way back into the game and so Dallas had a double-digit lead at the break. After the change, however, the Mavs-Offense was paralysed again. After a few minutes Andre Drummond picked up his fourth foul with a moving screen. He never came back after that.
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The hosts exploited this mercilessly, penetrated more and continued to settle down. After three quarters the lead was already 23 points, which led to an extended garbage time, even though some starters were still on the field.
Top scorer of the Mavs was Harrison Barnes with 25 points and 7 rebounds. Dirk Nowitzki recorded solid 12 points (4/9 FG, 2/6 threesomes) and 4 rebounds. Maxi Kleber (2 points, 4 rebounds), on the other hand, could not match his strong performance of the last few games. Dennis Smith, Jr. made a strong impression on his return, especially in the second quarter and came up to 15 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists.
Detroit, on the other hand, saw some weak games. Both Reggie Jackson (6 points, 5 assists) and Drummond (11 points, 13 rebounds) had little influence on the game. Tobias Harris (10,4/16 FG) tried a lot, but didn’t have a Fortune in the finals either. Anthony Tolliver (18) was the guest’s busiest scorer with four transformed threesomes.
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Dennis Smith, Jr. After the match in Washington, this was the rookie’s best performance. After six games of injury, he gave the Mavs the last thing they did: Penetration. Made the defense collapse several times and was especially hot towards the end of the second quarter, when Dallas was able to break away with several small runs. Of course, there were some rookie mistakes and missed out on the first few games, but the performance was more than promising.
Tobias Harris. If the throw does not fall, the forward has a problem because it hardly penetrates and finds ways to the free-throw line. This was also evident today. Up to now he hit 44 percent of downtown, but this time he was without success (0/4 threesomes). 10 points at 16 throws are simply too few. Also weak: Jackson and Drummond.
An interesting question before the match was whether Pistons coach Stan van Gundy would place Andre Drummond in the defense. The Big, who didn’t like to leave the zone, did not care about Nowitzki at the beginning, but about glue, which was to be found almost exclusively on the three-line. Drummond always felt more comfortable when Dallas relied on a real center like Salah Mejri, even if he let some stupid fouls hang around him. On the other hand, Carlisle abandoned a small lineup as long as Drummond was in the field, betting almost exclusively on Mejri or Nowitzki.