Biggest takeaway: Mavs looked like roughriders against Jazz

Are the Dallas Mavericks – before their devoted fans very eyes – developing into a team that can also engage in a roughrider style of play? If Thursday night’s game against the Utah Jazz is any indication, it sure looks that way.

Not only did the Mavs spend the majority of the night pushing the Jazz around. But they did so while finishing the night with an unheard-of 18 dunks.

The Mavs converted 43 field goals against Utah. And 18 of them were dunks. That’s 41.9 percent of their made field goals. That’s also roughrider stuff.

The 18 dunks ties for the second-most dunks in a game in NBA history since play-by-play data first started tracking this stat in the 1996-97 season. It trails only the 20 dunks the Los Angeles Clippers rammed through the basket against the San Antonio Spurs on Dec. 21, 2019, while the Washington Wizards collected 18 dunks against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Dec. 1, 2021.

The common denominator between the game between the Mavs and Jazz – and the game between the Wizards and Timberwolves – is Daniel Gafford. He played in both games.

In all, Gafford was 10-of-11 from the field on Thursday. And all 10 of his field goals were dunks.

Gafford also was an equal opportunity dunkster. He had one dunk in the first quarter, two in the second, three in the third and four in the fourth. Basically, ESPN could have built its entire Top 10 plays of the day entirely of dunks from Gafford.

“Yeah, it was like one of those Wilt (Chamberlain) nights — 10-for-11,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said, referring to Gafford. “The quarterbacks love finding him.

“He has great hands. His ability to finish in traffic is something that we haven’t had.”

Counting the five layups the Mavs converted, 53.5 percent of their made field goals – 23-of-43 – were either a dunk or a layup. That’s sheer efficiency that’ll win many a ball games.

Overall, the Mavs perfectly negotiated 11 lob dunks, including two from Luka Dončić to Gafford and two from Dončić to Dereck Lively II. Also, Jaden Hardy tossed four lob dunks to Gafford, and P.J. Washington finished the night with three lob dunks, including two from Kyrie Irving.

In body slamming the Jazz, it was a dominant roughrider type of game from the Mavs.

Here are the three takeaways from the Mavs’ 16-point win over the Jazz.

GAFFORD GETS PERSONAL: Not only did Mavs center Daniel Gafford masterfully record 10 dunks. He also collected 24 points, six rebounds and five assists. The 24 points are two shy of Gafford’s career high of 26. Plus, this is the first time Gafford has registered at least 20 points, at least five rebounds and at least five assists. The only other Mavs centers to produce such a stat line are Roy Tarpley (Nov. 3, 1990) and Tom LaGarde (Dec. 30, 1980 and Feb. 11, 1981).

EASY PICKINGS: Counting the five layups the Mavs made Thursday, 53.5 percent of their made field goals – 23-of-43 – were either a dunk or a layup. That’s including the aforementioned 18 dunks, which in itself has to be an intimidating weapon teams use to inflict additional pain on opponents. It’s also sheer efficiency that’ll win many a ball games and make teams think twice about trying to contain a player when he’s that close to attacking the basket.

LUKA BOUNCED BACK: It took Mavs point guard Luka Dončić just one game to bounce back from the sub-par shooting game he had during Tuesday’s win over the San Antonio Spurs. Dončić was just 6-of-27 from the floor – including 2-of-12 from three-point range – against the Spurs. But against the Jazz, he wound up 11-of-23 from the field – including 4-of-10 from beyond the three-point arc.

X: @DwainPrice