Sometimes when a team is on hiatus from an offensive standpoint, that team needs to simply roll up its sleeves and let their defense do the talking.
Such was the case for the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.
With head coach Rick Carlisle back at the team’s hotel after testing positive for the coronavirus, the Mavs put on an impressive defensive show in silencing the New York Knicks and getting out of Madison Square Garden with a 99-86 victory. It was the 17th win in their last 24 games for the Mavs as they raised their record to five games over .500 (26-21) for the first time this season.
In the meantime, Carlisle was cleared to fly with the Mavs to Washington D.C. after the game as Dallas will battle the Washington Wizards on Saturday night before returning home to face the Utah Jazz on Monday.
Following a slow start, the Mavs only toted a slim 72-69 lead into the fourth quarter against the pesky Knicks. But the Mavs outscored the Knicks, 27-17, in the final period, including holding them to just 5-of-19 shooting while also outrebounding the Knicks, 14-8, over the final 12 minutes.
Jamahl Mosley, the Mavs’ defensive coordinator who took over for Carlisle, said: “It was just good for us to stick to the game plan. I know it didn’t start off well early.
“It was just kind of a ratty game to start and our guys started to buy in and saying, ‘Hey look, they’re trying to grind the game down and we need to just get stops so we can get out and run. Let our offense flow through our defense.’
“When the guys bought into that in the huddle and communicated that, that was the changing point of the game.”
The Mavs held the Knicks to 36 percent shooting from the field and also outscored the Knicks in the paint, 50-30. That’s the fewest points the Mavs have allowed in the paint all season.
“Sometimes you’re going to win ugly, and you’ve got to win ugly,” said Luka Doncic, who led the Mavs with 26 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. “That means when things don’t go right you’ve got to step up and be together and win the game.”
Things certainly didn’t go right for the Mavs early on as they fell behind, 44-31, in the second quarter following a 15-3 run by the Knicks. But the Mavs regrouped and finished the first half on an energetic 18-2 run to assume a 49-46 lead at the game’s midway point.
During that offensive explosion, the Mavs’ defense was on full display as the Knicks went almost six minutes without scoring a point.
“That’s really one of our better defensive games,” said Jalen Brunson, who finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists. “I think it had to do a little bit with their pace and their style of play.
“They try to slow the ball and grind it out. But whenever we got down defensively in the half court we just tried to sit down, play defense and try and get stops and just run.”
The Mavs in general and Maxi Kleber in particular definitely put the defensive clamps on Knicks All-Star forward Julius Randle. The Plano native was held to just 14 points on 5-of-20 shooting, although he did produce eight rebounds and 11 assists.
For Kleber’s performance, Doncic personally gave him the Defensive Player of the Game award and the coveted belt that Carlisle always passes out to a player following a Mavs’ victory. Doncic, however, took it a step farther by saying: “I’ll give two (belts) to Maxi. Two belts.”
Why two belts? Doncic said: “Because he was so good on defense today. I think Maxi did an amazing job tonight with Randle. He was tremendous on him.”
Meanwhile, Doncic was also tremendous when the game was on the line as he scored 13 of his points in the final quarter to help the Mavs get a comfortable lead. The two-time All-Star collected two early hoops in the fourth quarter, fed Dwight Powell for an alley-oop dunk, banked in a 3-pointer with the shot clock expiring, then scored on a spin move to the basket for a 90-75 lead with 3:13 remaining.
Doncic added another basket and a dunk, and Porzingis sealed it with an alley-oop dunk off a pass from Brunson with 36.8 seconds left. Brunson also was very effective – again – in the money quarter as he tallied seven points in the fourth period.
“Jalen has always been a winner and a leader,” Mosley said. “He understands timing and score and different situations, so a lot of the game I’m leaning on him and Luka to discuss what’s going on on the court.
“His court vision as a point guard, his leadership, that’s where it’s really taken a big step is his leadership ability with these guys.”
As a side note, Knick fans again booed Porzingis all night, yet he still finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and two blocks. Porzingis, of course, was the fourth overall pick by the Knicks in 2015 before they traded him to the Mavs on Jan. 31, 2019.
“The reaction was what I expected again, of course,” Porzingis said. “I’m happy we got the win. We lost the last two last season (to the Knicks) and tonight we grinded this game and got the W on the road against them.
“They’re a tough team and they played really good defense on me and on us in general. And yeah, overall a tough game, grinding game and it’s good to come up with a win against a tough team like the Knicks.”
Doncic praised the coaching performance by Mosley. Especially since Mosley interviewed for the vacant Knicks head coaching job during the 2020 offseason, but that job eventually went to Tom Thibodeau.
But on the big stage in the Big Apple in the Knicks’ self-proclaimed world’s greatest arena, Mosley showed exactly what he can do if given the chance.
“He can be a head coach for sure,” Doncic said. “I work with him a lot, and he’s got the things that’s needed for a head coach.”
As the Mavs won for the third straight game, Mosley said: “First, Rick has done such a phenomenal job of preparing all of his staff members to take over or just to step up in every moment. It’s the same thing with the team just being prepared in each moment.
“So for me it was just going off the guidance that he’s given me. When he texted and said you’re ready for this, you’re prepared for this and just go off of the things we’ve constantly talked about, that was a place of comfort for me to be able to help lead these guys.”
And in landing in a place of comfort, the Mavs followed Mosley’s lead. It also was the fourth-fewest points the Mavs have allowed in a game this season.
“I just thought it was a great team effort,” Mosley said. “Our guys did a great job of pulling together, sacrificing for one another and then just being able to sit down and guard down the stretch. That’s really one of our better defensive games.”
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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