CHICAGO – Never in his wildest dreams did Daniel Gafford think he would one day convert 28 consecutive field goals during his
NBA career.
But that’s exactly what the Dallas Mavericks’ center has done, capped by his 9-for-9 performance from the field during Monday’s 127-92 runaway victory over the Chicago Bulls. Gafford’s performance is the most efficient by a player since the NBA play-by-play era began in the 1997-98 season, and is just seven consecutive made field goals shy of the all-time NBA record of 35 in a row set by Wilt Chamberlain from Feb. 17-28, 1967.
In a way, Gafford has been treating the rim as if it’s some sort of stocking stuffer. He has gone four straight games without missing a field goal, and doesn’t plan on missing a basket any time soon.
“With me — which is my philosophy for sure — is that being consistent and having the mindset of just wanting to finish everything, no matter if there’s somebody in front of you or if there isn’t somebody in front of you,” Gafford said. “I either dunk it or put it in the rim.”
Gafford admitted he’s never even made 28 shots in a row in practice. That’s what makes his achievement so mind-boggling.
“I just want to keep moving forward,” Gafford said. “Like I tell people, any accolade that is around my name is a good thing for me.
“But I just want to win. Just compete and just go out and just have fun with the game.”
Here are the three takeaways from the Mavs’ 35-point win over the Bulls.
TWO-MAN INSIDE POWER GAME: What Dereck Lively II and Gafford combined to accomplish against the Bulls was simply astonishing. The Mavs’ tag-team centers combined to score 42 points, grab 14 rebounds and block four shots while going a phenomenal 20-of-21 from the field for 95.2 percent.
Lively finished the game making 11-of-12 shots and scoring 22 points, while Gafford was a perfect 9-for-9 from the floor and tallied 20 points. Gafford and Lively are the first pair of teammates to score 20 or more points apiece while shooting a combined 95 percent from the field or better since New York’s Wilson Chandler and Nate Robinson did it against Memphis in 2008.
A NEAR-PERFECT GAME FOR MAVS: The Mavs came as close to delivering a perfect game Monday against the Bulls as humanly possible.
Nearly everything that could go wrong for the Bulls went wrong.
Dallas handed the Bulls their most lopsided game of the season. And the 92 points Chicago scored are the fewest the Mavs have allowed in a game this season.
The Mavs, who committed just six turnovers, held an insurmountable 44-16 lead after the first quarter as they led wire-to-wire and at one point had a 37-point advantage. Things were so out of sorts for the Bulls that one of their starting guards, Ayo Dosunmu, had a plus/minus of minus 22 — after the first quarter.
LUKA STILL STREAKING: Ok, that 30-point triple-double streak Mavs guard Luka Dončić had going for himself ended when he scored just 27 points in the win over the Bulls. He also had 12 rebounds and 14 assists, meaning he pieced together yet another triple-double.
That’s seven 20-point triple-doubles in a row for Dončić, which ties him with Oscar Robertson (1961) and Michael Jordan (1989) for the most consecutive 20-point triple-doubles in NBA history, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
With six made three-pointers against the Bulls, Dončić also passed Jason Terry and moved into second-place on the all-time list for the most three-pointers made in Mavs’ history. Dončić has now converted 1,141 three-pointers to 1,140 for Terry.
Dirk Nowitzki holds the Mavs’ all-time record for three-pointers made with 1.982.
X: @DwainPrice
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