Mavericks stay hot, with 6th straight win
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The Dallas Mavericks have been one of the hottest teams in the NBA recently and that trend continued Sunday, when the Dallas Mavericks took down the Chicago Bulls by a final score of 113-99. Chicago entered the day on a nine-game winning streak of their own and hadn’t lost a game since Dec. 11. They also have the best record in the Eastern Conference at 26-11.
The win wasn’t an easy one for Dallas, as they started the game trailing 32-22. The Mavericks answered back with a huge second quarter, outscoring Chicago 32-23 to cut the deficit to just one point at the end of the first half.
Tim Hardaway Jr. and Josh Green led the team in the second frame, scoring 16 of the teams 32 points. Hardaway Jr. was 4-5 from the field in the frame, while Green was 3-4. Luka Doncic was also very productive in the quarter, scoring four points and dishing out five assists, while having a +/- of +12.
Dallas kept things going with another strong frame in the third quarter, this time led by Doncic. The Slovenian superstar had 10 points, shooting 3-6 from the field and making all four of his free throw attempts.
The Mavericks took a 83-79 lead entering the final frame but never let their foot off the gas, outscoring Chicago by 10 points to win the game by a final score of 113-99. Doncic once again led the team in all major Caterogies, scoring 22 points, while also finishing with 14 rebounds and 14 assists. The triple-double was the 39th of his career, and made him the new leader in triple-doubles amongst players 22-year old or younger across all of NBA history, surpassing Oscar Robertson who had 38.
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Green had a standout performance for the Mavericks, finishing with 18 points and six rebounds in just 22 minutes of his action. The young guard did so on a very efficient 8-10 shooting.
“I just think staying prepared,” Green said, when asked what the key to his performance lately has been. “I think my whole mentality is just when my name is called, make sure I am ready to go and bring to the team what they need. I feel like I was able to find a groove and just am trying to build off that and just continue to grow as a player.”
Green’s 18-point performance is a new career-high, after setting his previous career-high of 17 points in their most recent win against the Houston Rockets.
Maxi Kleber had a season-high 18 points in Sunday’s win, shooting a very efficient 6-9 from behind the 3-point line. Jalen Brunson had a great outing as well, scoring 17 points on 8-10 shooting, while also having four rebounds and four assists. Dorian Finney-Smith had 12 points, while Dwight Powell had 10 points, giving all starters 10 or more points on the night.
The win makes Dallas 22-18 and improves their winning streak to six games. In that span they are averaging 108.7 points per game, while allowing only 93 points per game. In their win stream the Mavericks had beaten some impressive teams, including the Golden State Warriors who have the best record in the league, as well as the Bulls who have the best record in the Eastern Conference.
Dallas will look to make it seven straight wins Wednesday when they travel to the Madison Square Garden to face the 19-21 Knicks. The game is set for 6:30 p.m. and will air on ESPN. Coverage of the game will be provided on Front Porch News.
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