Big Dan had a big night as Dallas pulled away in the second half.
The Dallas Mavericks (19-10) pulled their head out of the sand after a slow start and walloped the Portland Trail Blazers (9-20), 132-108, on Monday at American Airlines Center. Luka Dončić made a good return, if not a triumphant one, after missing the last two games with a heel contusion.
The Mavericks piled up 64 points in the paint against a leaky Portland defense and lived at the charity stripe, shooting 34 free throws in the win. It was a straightforward blowout against an inferior opponent — always a welcome sight.
Here’s how the Mavs graded out individually in the win over the Blazers.
Luka Dončić: B+
27 Points / 7 Rebounds / 7 Assists / 1 Steal (30 minutes)
Dončić missed his first three shot attempts of the game before connecting on a fadeaway banking jumper that would have gone for a 3-point play had he been able to make the ensuing free throw. His legs weren’t underneath him on his early shot attempts.
Dončić was active on defense, though, deflecting balls in the passing lanes and forcing an early Portland shot-clock violation with solid pressure in the corner. He missed all four of his 3-point attempts in the first half but became an and-1 merchant by drawing contact and finishing in the mid-range. He shot 9-for-12 inside the 3-point arc in the win.
If the outside shot was a little rusty, Dončić made up for it by getting into the paint, delivering perfectly placed dimes and being in the right place at the right time on the boards. Smart ball from Luka despite going 0-for-5 from distance in his first game back from injury.
Kyrie Irving: B+
20 Points / 3 Rebounds / 1 Assists / 1 Steal / 1 Block (29 minutes)
Irving made it a point to get to the basket early on, scoring six points in the first quarter on some nifty drives. He canned a 3-pointer from halfway to Forney on Dončić’s fourth assist of the game to give Dallas its first double-digit lead, 57-47, late in the second quarter. He somehow scored on a baseline drive where he fell down but kept his dribble alive against an inept Portland defense early in the third. He had time to gather himself and put home the lay-in banker to give the Mavs a 72-60 lead. He and Dončić sat for most of the fourth quarter, which is always a favorable outcome.
Spencer Dinwiddie: C-
3 Points / 1 Rebounds / 2 Assists / 1 Steals (14 minutes)
Dinwiddie was indecisive on his first drive to the hoop and then threw the ball away late in the first on an outlet pass to Naji Marshall down the sideline that was too tall. He lost Deni Avdija on a third-quarter inbound play that resulted in a corner 3-pointer that was just too easy, but answered with a nice 3-ball of his own from the right wing a minute later.
Klay Thompson: B+
13 Points / 2 Rebounds / 2 Assist / 2 Steals (18 minutes)
Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images
Thompson splashed home his first 3-point attempt early in the first before throwing the ball away when he should have raised up for another the next time down. He finished the break with his first dunk in a Mavericks uniform in the first as well. He missed his next three long-balls before knocking one down with just eight seconds left in the first half to make it a 62-51 game before the Dallas defense gave up a last-second drive and score by Anfernee Simons right before the halftime buzzer.
Thompson’s third came early in the third on a wide open look in transition from PJ Washington and put Dallas up 75-60 with 8:40 left in the third. He is now two made 3-pointers shy of tying Reggie Miller for fifth all-time. He was an able defender on Monday as well.
Dereck Lively II: C
4 Points / 4 Rebounds / 1 Assists / 1 Steal (16 minutes)
Lively took a backseat to Daniel Gafford in the win over the Blazers. Gafford just had more juice, and that’s ok on any given night — it just doesn’t look all that pretty in the grade book. Lively finished in the paint on a deliciously long post-entry pass from Dončić early in the third for his second basket. He also showed great hustle on a couple of offensive boards in the second half.
P.J. Washington: B-
12 Points / 4 Rebounds / 2 Assists / 1 Steal (24 minutes)
Washington nailed his first 3-point attempt on a fast-break assist from Thompson in the first quarter, then converted on a solid post-up attempt a couple of minutes later. He picked up his second foul midway through the first, forcing Maxi Kleber into some very dubious early minutes. He hit his second 3-pointer early in the second to go 2-of-2 from long range while the rest of the team was a collective 1-of-10 to that point. He was relatively quiet in the second half after scoring 10 in the first.
Quentin Grimes: C+
5 Points / 3 Rebounds / 4 Assist (17 minutes)
Grimes made a couple of nice mid-range jumpers in the first half and made the right pass when a teammate came open. He just didn’t put his stamp on the win over the Blazers like some of his teammates did.
Naji Marshall: C
4 Points / 1 Rebound / 2 Assists (16 minutes)
Why did Marshall play for just 3:36 in the first half? This was his fourth game back after the lengthy bout with that mysterious illness that worked its way through the Mavs’ locker room in late November and early December. It feels like something is going on here. What’s weirder, though, is that he got those four minutes in the first half, then didn’t come back in until garbage time. If the issue was (speculating for speculation’s sake) that he’s somehow still not 100% over that illness, why bring him in for the fourth to run with Jazian Gortman, Dwight Powell and Olivier-Maxence Prosper? Naji Marshall and Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd’s deployment of his services are the head-scratchers of the evening.
Daniel Gafford: A+
23 Points / 5 Rebounds / 2 Assists / 1 Block (21 minutes)
Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images
Gafford brought the bench scoring for the Mavs on Monday. He had 11 points and five boards in the first half, when he carried the offense for minutes at a time, as weird as that is to say. Dallas needed every bit of his tenacity and nose for the bucket as the rest of the offense sputtered through much of the first half.
His emphatic and-1 post up late in the third over Deandre Ayton put the Mavericks up 86-67, then he muscled another one home through the Blazers’ redwood of a rookie Donovan Clingan. His third and-1 of the third quarter came over Deni Avdija, but we’d love for him to complete these huge plays at the free throw line with a little more consistency. Overall, though, it was just a superlative night for the man who really should be mic’d up every time out.
The icing on the cake was watching Gafford sign his shoes, pose for a photo and give them to a young lady who was holding a “Big Dan #1 Fan” sign in the stands.
Maxi Kleber: C-
3 Points / 1 Rebound / 1 Steal (16 minutes)
Kleber has to rebound when he’s in there, and he got outdueled on the defensive boards by Avdija and Jerami Grant a couple of times in the first quarter. He got caught out of defensive position on a cut from Toumani Camara and a drive by Avdija later in the first. Then in the final minute of the first, he threw an inbound pass right to Scoot Henderson, who, someone should have told Kleber, is not a member of the Dallas Mavericks.
Kleber did play good one-on-one defense at times in the second half against Grant and Avdija. He made just his third 3-pointer of the year early in the fourth.
Olivier-Maxence Prosper: B+
8 Points / 5 Rebounds / 1 Assist (10 minutes)
O-Max came in for garbage time in the fourth quarter as the Mavericks went up by 30 a couple of different times late. He threw the ball away, missed the rim entirely on his first 3-point attempt, rebounded his own miss, then missed the rim entirely on his driving second attempt. He bounced back from that initial stumble, though, for some decent-looking trash minutes.
Jazian Gortman: B+
3 Points / 1 Rebound / 1 Assist / 1 Steal / 1 block (9 minutes)
We had a Jazian Gortman sighting late in the game against Portland! He hit his first shot attempt, an off-balance 3-pointer that brought a smile to everyone’s face on the Dallas bench at the under-eight-minute timeout. Then he missed his next three attempts, but no harm, no foul at that point in a blowout win.