A bit of normalcy returned on Friday night at American Airlines Center.
Gone were the one-timers, those overflow media members who crammed into the building for Luka Doncic’s Wednesday return to Dallas. And the Los Angeles Lakers fans, too.
Replacing them was a business-as-usual approach from the Mavericks, who are trying to put together an identity on the fly and couldn’t have asked for a better confidence builder than the Toronto Raptors.
With Anthony Davis rolling up a triple-double and virtually all of the Mavericks enjoying a strong shooting night, they rolled to a 124-102 victory over the Raptors on Fan Appreciation Night at the AAC.
The Mavericks got 23 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists from Davis as he spent his last several minutes on the court one assist away from the milestone. He finally got it when he tossed a simple lob pass to Dereck Lively II, who flushed it through the net.
Davis wasn’t far from an even rarer achievement as he finished with seven blocked shots. Quadruple-doubles are few and far between.
It was the kind of performance that at least one Maverick has grown accustomed to seeing.
“I’ve become so used to it – a lot of these guys haven’t played with him yet,” said Max Christie, who came with Davis in the February trade from the Los Angeles Lakers. “They’re going to get used to it. He’s such an elite basketball player when he gets comfortable. He can contribute so many ways. Pretty easy triple-double for him, basically three quarters.”
It also was a banner night for Lively, who finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds in 18 minutes, a three-minute uptick in his playing time over the last few games since his return from a stress fracture in his right ankle.
In addition, the Mavericks welcomed back point guard Brandon Williams, who infused some quickness into the Mavericks’ attack on a night when they were short on ballhandlers with Spencer Dinwiddie (knee soreness) sitting out.
Williams had 17 points and made seven of eight shots in 22 minutes. Christie also chipped in 17 points.
But Davis was the shining star. Two days after Luka dropped 45 points on the Mavericks, Davis was every bit as dominant on Friday.
When asked about his season-best assist total and whether he considers himself a passer, Davis said: “I don’t really have to pass much nor do, at times, guys want me to pass. But just making reads, learning from the game (against the Lakers) when they were doubling me and making the right reads.”
Davis was more interested in the growth he saw from the Mavericks as a whole.
“As a team, it gives us a little more confidence as a unit and individually for guys making play,” he said of the blowout win. “No matter who we’re playing, that’s how we got to play – a lot of energy and a lot of fun. That’ll make up for a lot of things.”
Davis would not divulge details of a team meeting after Wednesday’s game, but said messages were delivered and that the results on Friday were exactly what the Mavericks were looking for.
“It looks like how it was tonight,” Davis said of what a focused group looks like. “Guys sharing the basketball, guys playing free, guys making the right plays, guys hustling back defensively, the guys are talking. When we’re connected like we were tonight, especially defensively, we’ll be a very tough team to beat.”
As was the case Friday. The Mavericks were able to bury Toronto early, which made for a fun evening after what has been a stressful week.
Granted, the Raptors aren’t exactly marquee competition. They were eliminated long ago from playoff contention and fell to 30-51 on Friday. But they did serve one very valuable purpose against the Mavericks, who now can work on bottling what they showed Friday night and hopefully repeating it when the stakes rise next week.
The Mavericks (39-42) have their season finale Sunday afternoon at Memphis. The significance of that game will be great since the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Sacramento Kings late Friday night.
That means that the Mavericks could still host the play-in game on Wednesday with a win in Memphis and a Sacramento loss at home to Phoenix, also on Sunday.
Either way, though, the Mavericks know they will have to beat the Kings on Wednesday, regardless of whether it’s in Dallas or Sacramento, to keep playoff hopes alive.
It wouldn’t be surprising if the Mavericks already were working on plays and defenses that they know they are going to need when they play the Kings in Wednesday’s win-or-go-home game.
Against the Raptors, who were shorthanded and only played seven players, the Mavericks eliminated all drama in the second quarter. Actually, they started removing all doubt in the final home game of the season in the final minute of the first quarter when they scored five quick points to go ahead 35-25.
When they opened the second quarter with a 21-4 binge, they were up 56-29 and that lead grew to 80-45 in the third quarter.
Everything else was just for show as Davis chased a triple-double and the Mavericks and their fans could enjoy a stress-free fourth quarter.
“AD was great, three blocks from a quad,” said coach Jason Kidd. “I thought the response from the team was great after an emotional game the other night. Sometimes you can come out flat and the tempo was faster than it has been. I thought AD’s approach was to try to take care of business early and he did that.”
And getting him the triple-double was gratifying.
“I was hoping he got it there at the end of the third,” Kidd said. “But he didn’t. It’s hard sometimes to let a triple-double pass. And so I thought it was the right thing for him to go get that and he got it within two minutes and we took him out. The quad, if he’d had nine blocks, that would have been on him to go get the 10th. But AD’s about winning, not about stats. It’s a great bounce-back win for us.”
X: @ESefko
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