Jaden Hardy has his coming-out party against Blazers

PORTLAND – It was only a matter of time before he made a major impact, and Dallas Mavericks rookie guard finally had his coming-out party Sunday night against the Portland Trail Blazers.

After spending most of his playing time this season playing for the Texas Legends in the G League, Hardy has been given some extensive playing time recently during meaningful portions of the game. And he’s delivered.

“He’s done well,” coach Jason Kidd said. ”He’s been a positive. He’s done everything that we’ve ask him to do.”

Known for breaking down opposing defenses by zipping up the court, Hardy scored a career-high 25 points on 8-of-17 shots during Sunday’s 140-123 loss to the Blazers. He had several memorable moments, including during  a six-minute stretch in the second quarter when he made the Blazers stand up and take notice of what he’s all about.

Shortly after entering the game in the second quarter, Hardy buried a three-pointer. Then he darted up the court, took a nifty bounce pass from center Christian Wood and proceeded to dunk the basketball.

Hardy then returned the favor as he fed Wood inside the paint for a bucket. Less than two minutes later, Hardy scooted up the court, was fouled, and split a pair of free throws as the Mavs got within 58-52 of the Blazers with 1:15 remaining before halftime.

And in the latter half of the third quarter, Hardy went 4-for-4 from the charity stripe, and also buried a three-pointer to get the Mavs within 98-95 of the Blazers when the quarter ended.

“You want to see a young guy like that be aggressive and come in and do his thing,” guard Spencer Dinwiddie said. “And obviously he’s – except for one of the other guys on our team that really can break down his man — we only have so many that can do that in kind of a one-on-one situation, and his pace is great for us as well.”

As he had the Blazers backpedaling on their toes, Hardy said scoring is just an after-thought for him.

“It’s easy, I feel like,” he said. “That’s just me going out there being confident in my abilities, and I feel like nobody can stay in front of me.”

And for Hardy, getting meaningful minutes instead of minutes during garbage time has enabled him to show the coaching staff other elements of his game.

“I feel like in the meaningful minutes it just gives me a real chance, I felt like, just to come out and be involved in the game when they put me in,” Hardy said. “In garbage time, sometimes I’m sitting over there and it’s kind of hard.

“But you’ve got to make it what’s best for you.”

Kidd knows Hardy is a gift the Mavs can unwrap at any time. And he’s willing to live with the mistakes he’ll make as he continues to learn the nuances of the NBA game.

“He’s going to make some mistakes, but that’s what rookies do,” Kidd said. “Even vets make mistakes, but he’s been a positive.

“He’s worked extremely hard, and again he’s done everything that we’ve asked him to do.”

Dinwiddie even believes Hardy has the skill-set to readily fill the role Jalen Brunson enjoyed last season when the Mavs rotated the ball-handling skills between Luka Doncic, Dinwiddie and Brunson.

“If the coaching staff choose to go that route, yeah, I think it can be extremely effective,” Dinwiddie said. “Obviously he’s young and he’s got a lot to learn as any other player in the league. But you want him to gain confidence, and he’s extremely talented.

“Yeah, I’m happy for him. In terms of guards that realty can take their man one-on-one – in terms of also full-court pushing the ball and stuff like that — he’s probably our third-best (player) at it.”

For now, Hardy is just delighted he was able to showcase his skills while bringing some attention to his game. It was easy to tell that he feels like he belongs on the same court with the NBA’s best players, and that he can hold his own with no problem.

“It felt good just to be out there helping contribute to the team,” Hardy said. “I just wanted to get out there, and once I heard my name called, just bring energy and contributing in any way I could, whether it was scoring the ball or playing defense or bringing energy.”

NTILIKINA GETS PLAYING TIME: One of the benefactors of the Mavs’ numerous injuries is guard Frank Ntilikina.

Known for his stout defense, the more Ntilikina plays, the more he has been looking for his shot. In Saturday’s game against Portland, the six-year veteran scored seven points in 22 minutes and was 3-of-5 from the field, and he started Sunday’s game and collected two points and seven assists in 23 minutes.

“He’s done great with the injuries knowing that he’s going to play and knowing that we’re asking him — when he’s open — to catch and shoot or to drive it,” coach Jason Kidd said. “He’s improved in the last couple of weeks with that.

“When you look at his defense, we’ve always counted on him to be one of those guys to be able to guard. But now for him to be able to improve on the offensive end just helps us as we go forward, and when we get healthy we become a little bit deeper.”

BRIEFLY: Guard Josh Green hasn’t played since the Dec. 9 game against the Milwaukee Bucks due to a sprained right elbow. The Mavs are hopeful he’ll be able to play in Wednesday night’s home game against the Atlanta Hawks. “Today is only Sunday, so we’ll see how he feels,” coach Jason Kidd said. “No setbacks. Hopefully he’s ready to go Wednesday. If not Wednesday, Friday (against the Miami Heat).”. .Point guard Luka Doncic gifted coach Jason Kidd a pair of Doncic’s Jordan Brand signature Luka 1s prior to Sunday’s game. . .On the 1-4 road trip, rookie guard Jaden Hardy said: “It wasn’t really a good trip just because we lost. Everybody in that locker room, we want to win. We want to be winners. We’ve got to go back, watch film, get together and talk, and make changes to do what’s best for the team.”. .Christian Wood missed Saturday’s game against Portland with a sprained right ankle. But he played 36 minutes Sunday and finished with 23 points and 16 rebounds, including four offensive rebounds. “When you look at C-Wood missing (Saturday’s) game, I thought he did a really good job of being able to rebound the ball for us, and then score and then being able to play-make out of the post when they double-teamed. So I thought he was really good tonight.”. . .Kidd is troubled that the Mavs gave up 136 points to Portland on Saturday and 140 points to the Blazers on Sunday. “Right now our defense is struggling,” he said. “We’ve got to go back here on Monday and Tuesday to look at how we can be better.”

Twitter: @DwainPrice