PHOENIX – It was not an easy proposition, but the Dallas Mavericks discovered Thursday night that they can indeed win
a game without the services of superstar point guard Luka Doncic.
Less than four minutes into the game against the Phoenix Suns, Doncic hobbled off the Footprint Center court and into the dressing room for good with a sprained left ankle. No Doncic usually spells doomsday for the Mavs.
But not this time.
With Spencer Dinwiddie firing in a season-high 36 points, the Mavs gutted out a hard-fought 99-95 victory over the Suns and improved to 26-24 on the season. It was an improbable win to say the least considering the Mavs were also without second-leading scorer Christian Wood, was missed his fourth straight game with a fractured left thumb.
Nevertheless, the Mavs were energized, played very aggressive on the defensive end, and attacked the basket at the most opportune time on the offensive side. It all added up to a win probably not many saw coming after Doncic was lost.
“To lose LD there in the first three minutes, understanding it’s the next man up mentality,” coach Jason Kidd said. “Everybody who played 
tonight – even the guys who didn’t play – were into the game. No one ever panicked and we found a way to win a game.
“I think it’s just the character of those guys in that locker room just understanding injuries are a part of this game. We never want anybody to get hurt. And then without Luka, just thinking who’s going to step up. Well, we got that answer tonight – it was Spencer. But it was the whole group participating. Defensively, to hold a team like Phoenix under 100 points is a big deal and those guys in that locker room should be proud.”
For the Mavs, the big man on this night was Dinwiddie, who was 10-of-18 from the field, 11-of-14 from the free throw line and 5-of-6 from beyond the three-point arc. Dinwiddie was so hot that he banked in a three-pointer with 1.6 seconds left in the third quarter over the outstretched hands of Bismack Biyombo.
“I didn’t mean to bank that,” Dinwiddie said. “I’m not going to sit up here and lie to you.
“There were a lot of shots that were in, there were a couple of free throws I thought I made, there was a layup I thought I made and I missed it in the first half. But I thought I missed that (three-pointer). That was why I just laughed.”
Then there was Dwight Powell, who aggressively out-hustled Deandre Ayton for a loose ball after Reggie Bullock missed the second of two free throws with 12 seconds left, leaving the Mavs nursing a slim 97-95 lead.
Powell was fouled on the play by Ayton, then promptly buried a pair of charity tosses with 9.8 seconds left which accounted for the game’s final points.
“It was just an all-around great team effort,” Dorian Finney-Smith said. “That was a big rebound, but it was Tim (Hardaway Jr.) who tipped it. Like I said, it was a great team effort.”
It was a great team effort considering the Mavs were coming off a disappointing 1-3 home stand, which ended with Tuesday’s 127-126
loss to the Washington Wizards. Then, when Doncic was injured early on Thursday, it was as if the sky was falling on the Mavs.
But the Mavs refused to feel sorry for themselves. Instead, they reached down and played some of their most impressive defense of the season sprinkled in with some key shots.
“Coming out at halftime, Tim was yelling, ‘We need this win,’ “ Finney-Smith said. “ ‘We need our first win without Luka playing.’
“It feels good, though. We give ourselves a good chance when we keep teams under 100 points.”
As far as Doncic’s status for Saturday’s game in Utah is concerned, Kidd said an update is forthcoming.
“I saw him at halftime and he was fine, and then I saw him after the game and he was in good spirits,” Kidd said. “He was smiling and he was happy for his teammates.
“But we’ll see how he feels as we go forward here. We’ll probably have more information once we get to Utah.”
Although this technically won’t be a game without Doncic, it really was. And the Mavs are now 1-5 without him this season, and Dinwiddie said: “I don’t know if he’ll be back next game or if he’s going to miss a couple (of games) or something like that. But it ain’t no cause for alarm where, ‘Oh no, we’re about to go on a 10-game stretch without LD.’
“He’s going to heal up nicely. He’s a young kid, although he likes to think he’s old. He’s not.”
The Mavs in general and Dinwiddie in particular had to shift their minds and enter into another game plan after Doncic — he was scoreless and only shot the ball twice — went down. And that 
wasn’t easy, considering Doncic is the NBA’s leading scorer and is also one of the game’s most ball-dominant players.
“It was just a shift in mindsets in terms of understanding the ball is going to come and now I’ve got to be aggressive in a more consistent fashion,” said Dinwiddie, who also had six rebounds and nine assists. “We rely on (Doncic) heavily. He’s one of the best offensive players in history.
“But I think this team — and this is before I got here (last February) – has been through a stretch without him before. And so we just kind of shifted gears. We knew what we had to do. We have to get stops. Obviously, my rant postgame (following the loss to the Wizards) was about getting stops and we just need that carryover consistently all the time.”
The Mavs were resilient on a night when the odds were stacked heavily against them. But even after the Suns cut an 11-point deficit down to 96-95 with 19.7 seconds left following a driving layup by Chris Paul, the Mavs stood their ground.
It helped that Finney-Smith was dominant with 18 points and 12 rebounds. It was the first 18-point, 12-rebound game in Finney-Smith’s career, and he knew the Mavs were counting heavily on him.
“Once we found out (Doncic) was out, everybody just stepped up,” Finney-Smith said. “It was a great team win.
“We probably got to move the ball a lot more, because usually LD is creating our shots and he’s making it a lot easier for us. But when he ain’t
on the court, we’ve got to use each other to get shots.”
And that the Mavs did.
The game was knotted at 32 after the first quarter, and, thanks to 20 points from Dinwiddie, the Mavs led, 54-48, at halftime. Then came that wild three-point bank shot by Dinwiddie which sent the Mavs into the fourth quarter clinging to a 76-69 lead.
“They probably stopped putting two people on Spencer and we just played it like we do when Luka is playing,” Finney-Smith said. “Throw the ball to the middle and let DP play make. I think I got two threes off DP doing his job flashing when they’re trapping.
“Spencer did a good job of scoring, passing and getting in the paint. He had a great game today. He was an All-Star too, so he got it in him. Great team win. I’m happy we got this win without LD on the court.”
Any win on the road, where the Mavs are just 9-15, is cause for celebration.
“We’ve been in that position with the close games and we’ve come up short,” Kidd said. “This was an opportunity, not just without Luka or C-Wood, but other guys are in here late to show that they can execute.”
Powell finished with 15 points and five rebounds, following up nicely on his 22-point, nine rebound game Tuesday against Washington. Hardaway tossed in 11 points and hauled in nine rebounds. That helped offset the 22 points and eight boards the Suns got from Cameron Johnson, the 22 points and 10 assists they got from Paul, and the 19 points and 20 rebounds they got from Ayton.
All in all, it was a game where the Mavs can collectively shake each other’s hands and know it was a job well done.
“We come in here and hold them to 95 points in their building, we obviously give ourselves a chance to win no matter who’s on the floor,” Dinwiddie said. “And if we can do that consistently with or without LD, we have a chance to be in the game.
“And if we have LD, it’s a likely win because he’s going to give us 60 points by himself — 35 (points) and 10 assists. All we’ve got to kick in is another 40.”
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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