The Dallas Mavericks absolutely evaporated the Utah Jazz by a score of 144-122 in a game that was never close.
This game had all the warning signs that it was going to get extremely ugly for someone. Both teams are on the end of a back-to-back, both teams are nursing draft picks, and both teams are without a large chunk of their roster. Dallas went so far as to sign a 10-day player today, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, earlier in the day, and even he got some run.
Klay Thompson and Naji Marshall, two of Dallas’ only available regular rotation players, led the way, scoring 26 and 22 points, respectively.
Dallas plays Utah again on Saturday, so with any luck, we’ll get something a little more competitive.
Cisse-ing double
Moussa Cisse scored his first career double-double, putting up 10 points and 13 rebounds. And he was able to hit those numbers in just 23 minutes played. A tidy and efficient night for the big man. He was a perfect 4-of-4 from the floor.
While still just playing on his two-way deal signed at the start of the season, is proving to be one of Dallas’ more reliable bigs, at least health-wise. Dwight Powell got the start, but with Anthony Davis and Daniel Gafford sidelined for the near future and Derek Lively out for the season, Cisse has played very well when called upon, and finished tonight with his best game yet.
Moving on up
It didn’t take long for Klay Thompson to hit the second of his six 3-pointers, and it moved him into the fourth spot for 3-pointers made all-time. Klay passed Damien Lillard and is now sitting at 2,809 made threes in his career.
Next on the list would be Ray Allen, who sits at third with 2,973.
His future with the team remains up in the air, but it was pretty cool to see him hit a big milestone in a Dallas jersey.
Let Dwight Powell shoot a three
Dwight Powell didn’t take a single three-point attempt. Outside of Cisse, every other Mav attempted a 3-point field goal.
There was a time – the 2018-19 season, where Dwight Powell, after ramping up with 85 3-pointers attempted the previous season, and 74 attempts the season before that, attempted a career-high 127 threes. He was making a concerted effort to add the long-ball to his skillset a la Broke Lopez, aka, Splash Mountain.
If we want the longest tenured Maverick to stick around as long as possible, it’s not too late to try to integrate that back into his game. He’s only 34, a young man. And with Dallas set to play Utah again, I say let Powell take all the threes he wants next game.
