LAS VEGAS – This was as close to a complete game as the Dallas Mavericks could ask for.
The Mavs stepped on the throats of the Golden State Warriors early and often Monday night and went on to cruise to a convincing 91-71 victory in the MGM Resorts NBA Summer League 2018 at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Maybe excited by the signing of rookie guard Luka Doncic just prior to tip-off, the Mavs were very dominant against the Warriors. Whatever the case, that victory padded the Mavs’ record to 2-1 going into the double-elimination tournament play, which starts Wednesday.
Against the Warriors, the Mavs played without three of their regular starters – Dennis Smith Jr., Johnathan Motley and Dorian Finney-Smith. But it didn’t seem to matter as Phil Greene, Mitch Creek, Jacob Wiley, Ray Spalding and Jalen Jones calmly picked up the slack in this runaway victory.
“I thought it was a very good overall performance,” summer league coach Jamahl Moseley said. “I think they did the best at playing together – the ball movement was good.
“I was just really impressed with our ability to play hard and sustain the level as long as we did.”
Even Jalen Brunson got in on the action and performed admirably. Although he shot just 2-of-8 from the field, Brunson distributed eight assists to go with his nine points.
“I think it’s getting better – I’m adjusting, still,” Brunson said. “But I think I’m coming into every day with a clear mind and I’m just trying to get better every day.”
The Mavs led 29-21 after the first quarter and 39-31 at the half. Brunson then got cooking, scoring his two baskets in the third quarter and also delivering some pretty nifty assists that helped Dallas tote a 76-52 lead into the final quarter.
“He got going a little bit in the third,” Mosley said. “So what I really like is the thing about him is that, from being a winner ‘s standpoint, he’s not letting those things discourage him.
“He kept going, he kept playing, he got a big shot, got an and-1, got himself to the free throw line to create his rhythm. He’s getting to the right spots, like we’ve talked about. When that happens, it can create so many other things because he makes great reads for other guys on the floor.”
Greene paced the Mavs with 16 points – he was 4-of-8 from 3-point range – and six rebounds. Also Creek drilled 5-of-7 shots and finished with 13 points and seven boards, and Wiley made five of his nine field goals and contributed 12 points.
“Phil Greene, he can flat-out score,” Mosley said. “But there were so many other things he did.
“He picked up full-court, he got into the basketball. He’s falling right in line with how our system goes – play hard, play the right way. He gets open looks, the guys were finding him early on in the first half with shots, so he did a very, very good job.”
Jones also played well, finishing with 11 workmanlike points. And Kostas Antetokounmpo was very active on the court while collecting four points, seven rebounds and blocked three shots.
“Those are some of the things we talked about seeing early on with him – his athleticism, his ability to play hard,” Mosley said, referring to Antetokounmpo. “He did a great job on the glass and then he had a couple of situations down the stretch where he made the right play.
“So those are the things that we’re looking forward for him to keep doing.”
Spalding, who finished with eight points and a game-high nine rebounds, also grabbed Mosley’s attention with his solid overall play.
“He’s been real good,” Mosley said. “The great part about him is that his demeanor is so calm and quite — he doesn’t get over –rattled, he just plays the right way.
“He plays hard, he’s just got a smoothness to his game. He’s done so many things that you ask him to do, you know he’s been well-coached. He does all the right things. That’s what I’m really enjoying seeing him grow and he gets better every single day.”
The Mavs hammered the Warriors on the glass, winning that battle by a sizeable 55-34 margin. While the Mavs grabbed 23 offensive rebounds, they also limited Golden State to 35.9 percent shooting, including just 6-of-23 shots from behind the 3-point line.
Now it’s on to double-elimination tournament-style play, which could be a bit sticky for the Mavs since Mosley said Smith, Finney-Smith and Motley will not play in any more of the summer league games. But there’s a slim chance Doncic, who signed his contract on Monday, could be available to play.
“He’s got to get a practice under his belt,” Mosley said. “He hasn’t gone 5-on-5 with our guys for the most part, so that’s going to be something we’ll have to look at with practices and see how that goes.
“He’ll be working out when we go through practices. He’ll go through all the things with us now that he’s signed, so I think that’ll be a good thing for him to just get the feel, get comfortable with what we’re doing and how we’re doing at a real pace.”
NOTES: As they move on to the double-elimination portion of the MGM Resorts NBA Summer League, the Mavs will do so without Dennis Smith Jr. Johnathan Motley and Dorian Finney-Smith. That trio played just the first two games this summer. And summer league coach Jamahl Mosley was very impressed with the way that trio helped the Mavs bounce back from Friday’s 92-85 loss to Phoenix and claim an 81-78 victory over Milwaukee on Sunday. “They did a great job of playing for us and showing us what they needed to do from a leadership standpoint, coming out and responding after Game 1,” Mosley said. “They’ve done a real good job for us.”. . . A lot of folks didn’t understand why it took so long for the Mavs to sign guard Luka Doncic to his three-year, $18.576 million rookie-scale contract. But Doncic not only had to get a buyout from his Real Madrid team. He also had to receive a letter of clearance from FIBA. “You make the best of it,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “It’s not a shocking development. Things take time. Look at (Mavs forward) Maxi Kleber’s situation last year – it was similar. It took a while to get the contract resolved. His German team wasn’t crazy about giving him up, but in the long run it really helped him and had a helluva year. So we’re going to take the same approach with Luka.” By the way, in the fourth year of Doncic’s contract he will receive a 26.4 percent raise of his $6,707 million that he’ll make during the 2020-’21 season. Or the Mavs can sign him to a long-term extension if they want to. . .Forward Harrison Barnes, who was in Vegas watching Monday’s Mavs-Warriors game, was all smiles when asked about the Mavs signing center DeAndre Jordan to a free agent contract last Friday. “I love it,” Barnes told Mavs.com. “I think DJ helps us fill a lot of areas that we needed. Just in terms of being our defensive anchor, blocking shots, rebounding — things that we kind of struggled with last year — I think he immediately, if he doesn’t do anything else, covers those for us. I think off the strengths of that we’re a better team.”
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