3 observations as the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Memphis Grizzlies, 102-92

After an unexpected week of hiatus after the catastrophic Texas weather event, the Dallas Mavericks led end-to-end against the Memphis Grizzlies, 102-92. Tim Hardaway was the highlight in Dallas, scoring 29 points on the bench. Ja Morant led the Grizzlies in defeat with 22 points.

Both teams seemed to be asleep at the beginning of the opening period, with Josh Richardson as the only player from both teams to play with any zip. He poured three deep threes onto the board, starting an attack on Dallas that seemed strange after a week off. The Grizzlies, for their part, simply could not score until their bank unit entered the game. Tim Hardaway Jr. provided the necessary spark off the bench, hitting two trios and playing off the bench. Luka Doncic missed all the time, missing all but one shot, including the four free throws. These problems aside, the Mavericks still lead 26-13 after a period of play.

One would expect Memphis to find some kind of rhythm in the second quarter after Tyus Jones and a flurry of floaters offended the Grizzlies at the end of the first quarter. That would be an incorrect assumption. Jalen Brunson led the Mavericks, scoring in various ways on the board, and Tim Hardaway Jr. continued to throw flames while the Mavericks increased his lead to up to 23 in the second quarter. Luka Doncic continued to seem like a slow step, but for the first time in recent memory, it didn’t matter. The Mavericks, at one point, had a 20-0 lead on the counterattack over Memphis, which helped them take 54-36 into the break.

Luka Doncic took control at the start of the third, reaching the rim and hitting a soft floater. The Grizzlies simply had no answer and seemed to be running in the sand for much of the picture. Apart from some exciting endings for Ja Morant, Memphis had very little to offer. This allowed Dallas to party in the transition and out of turns. The Mavericks actually cooled considerably with distance in the quarter, but Memphis was unable to share the lead. After three quarters, Dallas led 81-62.

The Mavericks simply resisted the rest of the game. The final frame looked like a workshop for Luka Doncic to find his chance when he finally hit a pair of three in the opening minutes. The Mavericks decreased slightly in the final six minutes of the quarter, allowing their 18-20 point lead to drop to 15, then to 12. Dallas managed to hold on to the double-digit victory, but did not end the game in enthusiastic fashion. All things considered, a win is a win and the Mavericks came out with a 102-92 win.

Now, some thoughts

Defense leads to attack

This is one of the oldest rules in basketball and the Dallas Mavericks rediscovered their active hands earlier in the season for the game against the Grizzlies. Dallas punished the Grizzlies both on break points (24-2) but also on turnover points (19-12). Although the Mavericks are 12th in the league for quick break points, they are the penultimate point for turning points.

Dallas was still quite poor on the rim, but without Kristaps Porzingis, the player closest to the squad to a kick blocker is Willie Cauley-Stein. Dallas did a much better job on the boards too, placing bodies on the Memphis players and not being destroyed in the offensive glass, despite Grizzly’s poor shooting performance.

Josh Richardson, pacemaker

Richardson finished with 17 points and seven rebounds, three assists and two steals. But his big first quarter, where he scored 10 points and five rebounds, really made Dallas go into a room where he felt a little stuck in the mud.

Josh pointed out on Twitter earlier today that Richardson is having a great offensive season, as you look beyond his three-point shots (which is also on the rise!).

It’s nice to see Richardson becoming a striker for this Dallas team. For now, we will ignore your team with five turns.

Bank score

This is not a new trend, but it was nice to see the Maverick bench continue to score easily. Jalen Brunson was arguably the second best player in Dallas this season and easily the second most consistent. He answered the bell again on Monday night, scoring 19 points in a hyper-efficient 7 out of 11 on the floor to go along with seven rebounds and three assists. So Tim Hardaway Jr. remained the real x-factor, scoring 29 points out of 9 out of 14 shots, including a red hot 7 out of 11 in the center of the city. Dallas, I believe it is now 6-1 when Hardaway scores 20 points or more. 48 points from two players off the bench make any team difficult to win.