NBA: Mavericks finish defeat series against Wizards

The Dallas Mavericks (3-7) finally finished their series of defeats against the Washington Wizards (2-8). With 119:100 the Mavs swept the defensively weak Wizards out of the American Airlines Center.

Both teams have more or less ruined the start of the season, especially Dallas needed a win as soon as possible, otherwise they could say goodbye to their playoff ambitions early on. The last six matches the Mavs all lost, now they had three days to prepare for the Washington offensive.

The chances against the Wizards were in a direct comparison from the beginning, they could defeat Dallas only once in the last 16 duels. However, Otto Porter was ready for action again after an injury on his left foot and stood in the Starting Five. The Mavs still had to do without Dirk Nowitzki (ankle) and Devin Harris (thigh).

The home team got off to a much better start in the game and put down a 7-0 run at the beginning. However, a four-minute drought followed afterwards before an Alley Oop-Dunk by DeAndre Jordan, presented by Luka Doncic, ended it. Then the Mavs started another run and a two-digit lead to the end of the first quarter was the result.

Up to this point they were especially successful with the fast attack towards the basket, Doncic and Dennis Smith it was partly made too easy. Often the Wizards could only help each other with fouls, which is why Dallas already stood nine times at the free-throw line and sunk every attempt.

The Mavs also opened the next quarter with a lot of fire power. Wesley Matthews (22 points) pocketed two throws directly from downtown and so it should go on for the Shooting Guard. Alone in this part of the game he scored 14 points.

Suddenly they cushioned their lead to 24 points, none of the wizards really got into the rhythm they wanted and the defense was criminally neglected. Sometimes not even the arms went up to defend a triple attempt. In addition, they often lost the ball unnecessarily during the offensive and allowed nine transition points through their turnovers.

Meanwhile Dorian Finney-Smith (11 points) worked very ambitious on the board and went into the half-time break with 3 blocks. So his team could start a 9-0 run before. All in all, the Mavs brought in nine threesomes in this quarter and stood at a rate of 56.5 percent.

Doncic finished the first half with a step-back-three, so far the Wizards only hit five of their 17 attempts from outside. They had to work on it, but they also had to defend the same litters better on the other side.

At the beginning of the second half, both teams seemed a bit unfocused. While Washington accumulated their team fouls within a very short time, Dallas lost the ball more and more often. Four quick turnovers, but the Wizards found it difficult to take advantage of this opportunity, but instead the game splashed a little bit without energy.

Finally, the team around John Wall was able to do a small 7-0 run because the Mavs had completely lost their rhythm. Only after four and a half minutes, they hit the first litter at all.

Then the team fouls of their opponents were full, but instead of attacking hard, they missed the opportunity to score more often on the line. Now Bradley Beal warmed up slowly and brought his team up to ten points, Otto Porter could finally finish the two-digit lead of the Mavs with a three-point lead and the quarter with 29:17.

In the final section JJ Barea (8 points, 8 assists) took over the responsibility, made sure that the pace of the game was high and prevented the Mavs from losing their start. In general, the performance of the bench was commendable, they put on their defense again and regained their two-digit lead.

Meanwhile, the Wizards continued to have problems stopping the Mavs offensive. Smith hustelte wherever possible and Dallas proved how well they can work as a unit. In the end, the guest team lacked the necessary accuracy and consistency on the defensive. Dallas got going again, found her opponent’s weaknesses and stormed away 32-22 in the last quarter.

For Doncic (23 points, 9/16 FG) it was the fifth time this season that he had at least 20 points on his account. Smith finished the game with 19 points (6/14 FG) and 7 assists, while Harrison Barnes took the most rebounds (13) and scored 19 points (6/13 FG). Maxi Kleber could not transform any of his four field throws and only got 2 points by free throws.

For the Wizards, Wall scored the most points (24, 8/20 FG) and prepared 10 goals from his colleagues and stole the ball 3 times. Porter and Beal each had 19 points, with the latter scoring only one of his nine triple attempts and Porter five out of six.

Dallas Mavericks v. Washington Wizards 119:100 (BOXSCORE)

Wesley Matthews. The Shooting Guard scored 14 of his 22 points in the second quarter, which earned his team a 35-25 win and extended the lead to 24 points at times. At halftime he had already sunk five three points and although there was none added, Matthews was the reason why the Wizards looked so bad on the defensive for long stretches.

The wizard’s defense. She has just been approached once before, the partly disastrous attitude of the team in the defense let the Mavs go so far away. Too many open triads, unnecessary fouls at the wrong time and generally too much space for the top performers from Dallas. Otherwise a victory would have been quite possible.

Rick Carlisle had enough time to adjust his team to the offensive of the Wizards. Over long distances his boys kept the top scorers of the opponent in the bridle and allowed few simple points. John Wall and Bradley Beal found their way into the game late, too late, because the Mavs had already left by then. The extraordinarily good start in the Offense was partly due to the bad work of the Wizards.