Assigning Grades for each of the Mavericks’ players in their 110-102 win over the Jazz
Assigning Grades for each of the Mavericks’ players in their 110 – 102 win over the Jazz
Coming off their first loss of the Season, the Mavericks were looking to bounce back against the Utah Jazz on Monday night. Utah has yet to win a game and certainly wanted to avoid an 0-3 start to the season, so the Mavs needed to lock in and prevent things from getting out of hand in this one.
In this article, we’ll recap and grade each player’s performance for the night. Since we are only a few iterations deep, we have again listed the basic ground rules on how we approach grading.
- Grades will be given to all Mavericks players who logged meaningful game time/stats.
- The grading system will use an alphabetical scale of: D, C-, C, C+, B-, B, B+, A-, A, A+ (for those who prefer a numeric scale, you’ll notice you can conveniently use these ten letter grades as a 1-10 scale if you prefer – we love math people, too).
- There is no F grade. It would defy credibility to categorize anyone capable of making an NBA roster as a “fail,” no matter how bad a game they had.
- Players will generally be graded to scale. In other words, a Luka A+ is going to look different than a Dwight Powell A+ for obvious reasons.
- If a player logged mostly garbage time and had few or no stats, they will not be included or otherwise given an N/A instead of a grade.
Without further ado, here are the grades for your Dallas Mavericks in their win against the Utah Jazz.
Luka Doncic: C-
After a great individual night in the loss to the Suns on Saturday, Luka could not find much of anything in this one. He shot a horrendous 22.7% from the field, worsened by his 1-for-9 from three. Somehow he nearly Triple-Doubled anyway, with 15 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists, but 5 fouls, 1 technical, and a stern look at the ref while the Jazz were on the other end hitting a three left much more stain than shine on this one. The one three he did hit was huge, to extend the lead to nine with just over two minutes left.
Kyrie Irving: A
Irving did just about everything right tonight. He shot nearly 60% from the field and 50% from three on six attempts. 23 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds (2 offensive). He did have 4 turnovers, but added 1 block and 1 steal. More importantly, he looked better than he has to this point in the young season. Tonight, the pull-up three looked like it was going in before it was even released, and he was getting to his spots in the lane and making crisp passes to keep everyone involved.
Klay Thompson: A
Thompson has been getting top marks to start the season and tonight is no different. Every game he continues to impress with not just his play, but with how well he fits into a brand-new team that is still doing some meaningful lineup tinkering. He posted a stat line of 18 points, 4 boards and 2 assists in 28 minutes, but had some big threes at the right time. One in particular capped a four-point possession after Luka split a pair of free throws, but Derek Lively got the rebound and passed to Thompson at the top of the arc.
PJ Washington: A
Washington finally broke out a bit after a couple rough games. While still not able to find his three-point shot (0-for-4 on the night) he managed to shoot 54.5% (6-for-11) overall. He notched a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds and also had 2 blocks. Perhaps best of all, he had 4 steals on the night, which underscored the intangibles he brought to the game – he was very active, caused static for the Jazz defensively and looked like the P.J. we fell in love with last season.
Dereck Lively II: A
Lively was highly efficient from the floor, shooting 7-for-10. He only had 4 boards, but 3 were offensive. He also finally kicked off the block party, making up for lost time with 3 on the night. Like many of the others, he looked to be getting comfortable as he was doing a lot of the little things he is known for that don’t show on the box score. Altering shots and hustling were joined by his new skill around the rim with a nice touch on little push shots and hooks. Bonus points for the best plus/minus on the team with +14.
Naji Marshall: B-
Marshall saw somewhat limited minutes but made the most of them. In 14 minutes, he was 2-for-4 for 4 points, but missed both of his three point attempts. He did manage to pull down 6 boards to go along with 2 assists and 1 steal, but still doesn’t look to be fully adjusted to his new digs. He did find himself in the right spot defensively and stayed locked in on that side of the ball, playing gritty defense and earning what he got statistically.
Quentin Grimes: C+
Grimes continues to find his way, but like Marshall has not yet found the stroke. He missed both of his three-point attempts in a 1-for-4 shooting night overall, but did well to pull down 3 rebounds from the guard spot in only 12 minutes of action. He was nothing if not active though, and bringing that energy will be key to staying on the court to find the groove.
Daniel Gafford: B+
Gafford brought exactly what he needed to – energy and intensity with 9 points and 7 rebounds in his 20 minutes of play. His 50% from the field again seems low after being spoiled by his league leading FG% last season but it’s hard to find much fault in his game. 4 of his rebounds were offensive, and he also stamped “return to sender” on 3 Jazz shots. Fouls did not enter into the equation in this one, as he only committed 2 in a disciplined defensive effort.
Spencer Dinwiddie: B+
Dinwiddie was a sight for sore eyes. After a DNP in one game and about 3 minutes of action in the other, Dinwiddie got 23 minutes of burn against Utah. He was 3-for-5 overall, and 3-for-4 on threes, all of which came in a 3rd Quarter flurry to keep the Jazz at bay. He missed two of his four freebies from the line, but made up for it (and got some extra credit here) with a block on a three point attempt that made Keyonte George look like a Transformer bending into vehicle mode. He had a couple other nice defensive plays that won’t be in the box score, one of which came against the bigger Lauri Markkanen who had to abort his post-up attempt due to Dinwiddie’s stout defense.
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