Barea’s heroics highlight our 5 takeaways from the 107-106 win against the Magic
Nov 7, 2019Dwain Price
HE’S BACK IN CHARGE: On the court for the first time this season, J. J. Barea came off the bench and provided a much-needed spark that got the Mavs out of an offensive funk. At one point during the second quarter, the 35-year old Barea wowed the crowd by scoring 11 straight points. That included back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers that got the sellout crowd lathered up and gave the Mavs the energy and enthusiasm to square their home record at 2-2. Barea was playing his first game since undergoing surgery on Jan. 14 to repair his ruptured right Achilles tendon. “When he got in the game he went out there (and was) a leader,” point guard Luka Doncic said. “Showed us young guys how it’s done. I think he won the game for us.” Barea finished with 11 points and three assists in 16 minutes, and was 3-of-6 from the field and 3-of-4 from 3-point range.
BENCH ROSE TO THE OCCASION: It’s becoming a common theme that whenever the Mavs’ starters are having difficulties scoring points, the second unit comes off the bench to save the day. It happened again Wednesday as the Mavs’ bench-warmers collected 49 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists to 31 points, 17 rebounds and nine assists for their Orlando counterparts. In his first game back after missing Sunday’s game at Cleveland with a right knee contusion – he said he had fluid in his knee – Kleber scored 14 points in 20 minutes off the bench. Also, Tim Hardaway Jr. chimed in with some clutch baskets and finished with 13 points. Justin Jackson added 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting, and also grabbed six boards in only 17 minutes. And of course, this victory would not have been secured without Barea’s heroics.
LUKA DOES WHAT LUKA DOES: Almost routinely, Luka Doncic is going to produce a solid all-around game that will captivate Mavericks Nation. Get used to it. On a night when his streak of garnering triple-doubles was snapped at two games, Doncic turned in a commendable scorecard: 27 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. It marked the sixth time in this season’s seven games that the second-year point guard has scored at least 25 points, the sixth time he’s snatched at least seven rebounds and the fifth time he’s dispensed at least seven assists. The Magic stymied Doncic in the first half when they held him to just six points on 2-of-7 shooting and forced him into committing four turnovers. But Doncic came alive in the second half when he tallied 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting while turning the ball over just two times.
THINGS HAVE CHANGED: Maybe things are shaping up for the Mavs to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since the 2015-’16 season, because what transpired Wednesday is the type of game Dallas consistently lost last season. The Mavs started the game converting just 2-of-11 shots and turning the ball over seven times while falling in a 20-10 hole. They were behind 71-60 with 6:19 remaining in the third quarter. Trailing by one point late in the game, the Magic even had three chances to take the lead. But Dorian Finney-Smith drew an offensive foul from Aaron Gordon, Tim Hardaway Jr. drew an offensive foul from Gordon, and Nikola Vucevic misfired on a 3-point attempt as time expired. In a game where the Mavs shot just 42.9 percent from the field and committed 17 turnovers, they still found a way to scratch out a victory. Things have changed.
CENTERS STEPPED UP: The Mavs’ center combo of Dwight Powell and Maxi Kleber combined for a night Rick Carlisle would probably like to bottle. Powell started, played 34 minutes, scored 12 points, snatched eight rebounds and handed out a pair of assists while converting 5-of-8 shots. Off the bench, Kleber had 14 points in only 20 minutes. The third-year veteran from Germany was 4-of-6 from the floor, 2-of-3 from behind the 3-point line, and also collected three rebounds and two assists. Combined, Powell and Kleber contributed 26 points, 11 rebounds and four assists, and were 9-of-14 from the field and 2-of-3 from downtown. It’s the kind of production that will take the Mavs many, many places and make their playoff dreams come true if they can get that type of production on a consistent basis from their two-headed centers.
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