The Dallas Mavericks have their first victory of the season after a true offensive fireworks display. In the 140:136 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves, Luka Doncic in particular plays well – and despite a vintage performance by Derrick Rose. There’s a new record for the Mavs on top.
After his strong performance against the Cavaliers, Jimmy Butler was given a break in Dallas. After the willing Shooting Guard entered the training shortly before the start of the season, Head Coach Tom Thibodeau decided to spare the 29-year-old in the back-to-back against the Mavs.
However, Minnesota got off to an excellent start without a butler. The visitors quickly took an 11-4 lead, forcing Mavs coach Rick Carlisle into an early time-out. But even afterwards Dallas did not really find his way into the game.
One Mavs turnover after the other (only 6 in the first 6 minutes) enabled the Timberwolves to score easy points on the other side, in the meantime the visitors dropped to 24:9. It was the reservists who put Dallas back on track.
J.J. Barea whirled through the Timberwolves defense in a well-known manner, his bank colleagues Maxi Kleber and Dwight Powell also contributed some threesomes. Dallas remained within striking distance after the first 12 minutes (46-37), but the big problem was undoubtedly the defense – the Mavs set a franchise negative record for the first quarter with 46 points.
Like the other starters, top rookie Luka Doncic had some problems at the beginning. Many of his actions seemed overhasty, only in the second section did he reach top form – and how! The 19-year-old led the Mavs back to the party with 15 points in the second run alone. At the halftime break the game was balanced with 69:69.
Also in the further course of the game no team was able to set itself off decisively. Dallas was finally in the game. DeAndre Jordan showed both defensive and offensive presence and Doncic sunk an ice-cold stepback threesome over Andrew Wiggins towards the end of the third quarter. The arena cooked.
But Wiggins also did a good job on the other side (19 points), as did Karl-Anthony Towns (31) Jeff Teague (22 , 9 assists) and Backup Derrick Rose. The latter in particular delivered a spectacular vintage performance and gave the Mavs 28 points (plus 5 boards, 5 assists). The 30-year-old also made a few positive appearances in the fourth quarter.
It was Rose who, after Doncic lost the ball in fast break, reduced it to 132-133 one minute before the end. So the decision should only be made in the final seconds. Finally, Dennis Smith Jr. became the hero of the game with a strong step-back jumper and And-One Dallas 6 seconds ahead of the siren.
Even after a deliberate foul by the Timberwolves, he kept his nerve with two sunken free throws. Afterwards Minnesota couldn’t send another throw on the journey – the Mavs secured their first victory of the season!
Smith Jr. finished the game with 18 points, as did Wesley Matthwes and Dwight Powell. Jordan contributed a strong double-double (22, 10 and 5 blocks), but the best man was Doncic. The No.3-Pick scored 26 points (8/16 FG) and was the best scorer of his team. Maxi Kleber scored 5 points and 4 rebounds in 17 minutes and caused a sensation with a monster block.
Incidentally, the Mavericks also set a new franchise record: Head coach Rick Carlisle’s team pulled the trigger 50 times from downtown (for a total of 98 FGA) – more often than ever before. After all, they also hit 17 of them (34 percent).