The Dallas Mavericks (7-8) win 112:109 (BOXSCORE) against the Golden State Warriors (12-5). The Mavs give the reigning champion a thrilling duel over the full 48 minutes – in Crunchtime Luka Doncic is ahead of Kevin Durant.
The Mavs and Warriors went into the game with completely different signs: The Warriors played the Rockets in the back of their minds with a solid clap, while Dallas had the 50-point blowout against the Jazz in his back and three wins in a row.
However, Dallas had to do without Wesley Matthews, who was injured on his thigh, and Draymond Green (sprained toe) and Stephen Curry (groin problems) on the opposite side. Especially the absence of the sniper was noticeable to the guests from the beginning.
Just like against Houston, GSW didn’t want to fall from a distance at the beginning – quite different with Luka Doncic: The rookie of the Mavs sank two threes early, but then Dallas also became a bit cold. Nevertheless, the hosts had the lead on their side, Dallas was even in front with 8 points in the first quarter.
In the second section, however, the strong Warriors bench around Damion Lee and Quinn Cook brought the visitors back, with a fast 7-0 run the game was balanced again. So it stayed until the half-time break, the guests from the Bay Area went into the cabin with a 59:57 tour.
After the side change the Warriors got the better start. With an early 8-0 run, the reigning champion threatened to take the lead, but Dallas found the right answer. Afterwards both teams gave each other little, it remained hard fought, high class and balanced.
The same was true in the fourth quarter. Until the final minutes the Mavs and Warriors delivered themselves an extremely exciting exchange of blows. After Doncic had brought his colors into front about a minute before the end, Kevin Durant failed on the other side with a layup in Traffic.
But the Mavs-Rookie only put a stepback threesome on the ring in the next attack – the chance for Durant to give Golden State the lead again. But the mid-range jumper of the two-time final MVP was too short. In general Durant had some problems in the crunchtime (1/7 FG in the fourth quarter). Durant still led his team with 32 points (11/24 FG).
Shortly thereafter, Dorian Finney-Smith missed the opportunity to extend his lead from the free-throw line to 3 points. But that should not be revenge anymore. Klay Thompson (22 points, 9/24 FG) threw away a baseline jumper, Doncic grabbed the rebound and brought victory from the line to dry cloths.
The Slovenian finished the game with 24 points (9/20 FG), 9 rebounds and 4 assists. Harrison Barnes contributed 23 points, while Dennis Smith Jr. (14), Finney-Smith (13), DeAndre Jordan (13 and 10 rebounds) and J.J. Barea (13) also scored two-digit scores.
Maxi Kleber, on the other hand, was not very visible. In 12 minutes the German scored 0 points (0/2 FG), one assist and 2 blocks. Nevertheless, the Mavs managed their fourth win in a row and at the same time their first success against the Warriors since December 2015.
Dallas Mavericks (7-8) vs. Golden State Warriors (12-5) 112:109 (BOXSCORE)
Luka Doncic. The 19-year-old made a very strong appearance: Right at the beginning he made his mark on the game – and so did Crunchtime. He took the offense of the Mavs on his back and led his team to victory with some strong actions in the final minutes.
Klay Thompson. It fit to the appearance of the Splash Brothers that Thompson in Crunch Time left a good opportunity for a possible equalizer a few seconds before the end. The sniper once again had an Off-Night and hit only 9 out of 24 out of the field (2/11 threes). That was definitely not enough.
Directly in the first attack of the game DeAndre Jordan fought his way through the zone and came to 2 easy points. As the game progressed, Dallas continued to seek their way into the Zone, where they used mismatches for Warriors switches. So they decided the duel among the boards with 50:38 points in the zone for themselves. Also defensively Dallas showed another strong performance. Thanks to a consistently great effort, the Warriors had a hand in their face with almost every throw.