LAS VEGAS – What a grand way for Dallas Mavericks summer league coach Jared Dudley to celebrate his birthday.
Dudley turned 38 years old on Monday, and his team helped him kick off the celebration festivities by rallying from an 18-point second-half deficit to defeat the Philadelphia 76ers, 111-103, in the NBA 2K24 Summer League at Cox Pavilion. In snapping a six-game losing streak, this was the first summer league victory for the Mavs since Aug. 17, 2021 when they beat the Miami Heat, 83-82.
The Mavs (1-1) will next play the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. CT at Cox Pavilion (NBA TV).
Philly led, 67-49, early in the third quarter and 86-69 with 1:23 remaining before the fourth quarter started. But the Mavs rolled up their sleeves and got several solid performances while outscoring the Sixers by a whopping 37-14 margin in the fourth quarter en route to dancing off the court in jubilation.
“I’m just humbled and honored to have the opportunity to coach the summer league,” Dudley said. “This is my second year to get my first coaching win.
“To get my first win on my birthday — I don’t care if it’s the summer league. To me, it’s a big deal. Again, nothing better than getting a victory on your birthday.”
Dudley said the tipping point that turned the game in the Mavs’ favor occurred when guard Jaden Hardy started heating up. Hardy had just five points and missed all six of his field goal attempts in the first half.
However, in the second half he was 5-of-11 from the field and scored 19 points, while finishing the game with 24 points, five rebounds and five assists.
“I thought he played terrible the first half,” Dudley said. “He wasn’t listening to the play calls, he was dropping his head, going too fast, turning the ball over. I don’t know what happened.
“I don’t know if it was the milkshakes or whatever he had going on (Sunday) night. For our summer league, if he’s not one of our top scorers and not playing at a high level, we’re not going to do well. So I’m glad in the second half he got out of his funk and came through.”
Hardy also is glad he was able to find his rhythm after halftime.
“I knew I wanted to come back — I wanted to win,” Hardy said. “So I just tried to get everybody on the same page, telling everybody just to stay together, make the right plays, play with each other, be there on defense for each other, and I feel like that’s what we did and that’s what helped us get the win.”
On this night, heroes were plentiful.
Taze Moore came off the bench and used his athleticism and skill set to pour in 13 points and grab five rebounds in just 16 minutes. McKinley
Wright IV tallied 13 points on 5-of-7 shots in only 13 minutes before leaving the game for good early in the third quarter with a left ankle sprain.
Also, Olivier-Maxence Prosper finished with 10 points and seven rebounds, Mike Miles Jr. scored 10 points, Dereck Lively overcame foul woes to collect eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds, and Jordan “Jelly” Walker had six points and three assists in only nine minutes.
”Credit them,” Dudley said of his players. “This is why you play four quarters.
“We picked up the pressure. When we started the fourth quarter I told them don’t wait until the last two-three minutes.”
Meanwhile, Moore had enough sky-walking plays to last two or three games. That includes a breathtaking rebound-dunk which got the Mavs within 97-95 of the Sixers midway through the fourth quarter.
“I think that’s one of my big attributes is being a leader,” Moore said. “I just wanted to be there for my team when we were down.
“(The key was) just coming in the huddle and coach D telling us we’re not out the game and telling us that we need to play a little bit harder, and just focus. Run the plays that he called and just try to do our best at everything that we do with a full amount of energy.”
Moore put on a burst of energy when he sprinted down the floor past Javonte Smart, and scored on a half court lob pass from Walker to put the Mavs ahead, 104-100, with 3:03 left in the game.
“Once I got the outlet pass I always try to look up the floor,” Walker said. “Once I saw him up the floor, I know nobody in the gym can jump like that.
“The Smart kid, he was running back. So, you can catch a lob like that. So, I just threw it up and (Moore) went to go get it.”
From there, Lively, who played 23 minutes, snatched an offensive rebound and dunked it. Prosper, who played 24 minutes, then maneuvered his way inside and scored for a 108-103 lead with 1:12 left.
Down the stretch, Lively grabbed a pair of crucial defensive rebounds – the second coming after Prosper’s missed free throw and the Mavs nursing a 109-103 lead with 43.2 seconds to go.
“Let’s shout out Dereck Lively,” Dudley said. “As a rookie, no shootaround, only one practice, one game, minutes go up.
“I didn’t even want to take him out those last two (minutes). He was at 21-22 (minutes). I think I went over the (minutes restrictions) total, but the fans will be happy.”
Lively picked up his fourth foul with 6:43 remaining in the first half. But players aren’t disqualified in summer league games until they accumulate 10 personal fouls.
“He’s a young guy, so he’s still trying to figure it all out,” Moore said. “’So, when he had those fouls as a young guy, McKinley, Jaden, me and AJ (Lawson) just tried to tell him, ‘Don’t worry about it. You get 10 fouls in the summer league, so you’re good.’ “
The Mavs were all good, too, mainly because they had five players collect at least five rebounds as Dallas outrebounded the Sixers, 47-30, while displaying a ton of resiliency.
“I feel like the first half was a slow start, but once we went into (the second half) we got to start making plays for each other – moving the ball and taking good shots,” Hardy said. “And I feel that’s what we did in the second half, and that’s what sparked our run. Us moving the ball, playing with energy and having fun.”
In the end, it all made for a glorious and fun-filled birthday for Dudley.
“We wanted to get the win for him,” Hardy said. “We didn’t want to lose on his birthday, so we had to get that win. Happy Birthday to coach Dud.”
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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