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Final: Mavs 98, Wizards 75

Box Score | Highlights

Behind the Box Score

The Mavs have now won four straight, 15 out of the last 16, and 30 of the last 38 meetings overall with the Wizards.

The Mavericks have now won 151 consecutive games when leading by at least 17 points after three quarters, per Basketball-Reference, and have a 266-3 record all-time in those situations.

Notebook

  • This wasn’t the prettiest performance on offense we’ve seen from the Mavs lately, which is actually kind of surprising given they’re top-seven in the NBA in offense and effective field goal percentage over the last two months. Dallas shot well below 50 percent from the floor and 40 percent from the 3-point line, which are two checkpoints the club has found relatively regularly lately. Still, that the Mavs were able to pull out a convincing win despite so-so shot-making tells you all you need to know about how effective the defense was in this game. Anyway, Dennis Smith Jr. received plenty of attention from the Wizards defense, with Washington often switching longer players onto him and making it tough for him to get into the paint. But when he was able to, he made some nice plays, like this one off a catch, when he double-clutched in the air for a layup.

    [wp_hyena imageurl=’https://www.mavs.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/dsj-attack.gif’ data_hyena='{“slate”:”300,0.10,15″,”player_fade_speed”:”500″,”control_opacity”:”0,0.9″,”fade_speed”:”250,250″,”style”:2}’]

    And this pass to Harrison Barnes spotting up in the corner was very nice.

    [wp_hyena imageurl=’https://www.mavs.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/dsj-pass-to-barnes-corner.gif’ data_hyena='{“slate”:”300,0.10,15″,”player_fade_speed”:”500″,”control_opacity”:”0,0.9″,”fade_speed”:”250,250″,”style”:2}’]

    The thing those plays have in common is Smith was attacking the basket hard off the catch, not as the primary initiator within the offense. As the season has worn on, he’s become better at playing off the ball, finding ways to influence the offense when he’s not the guy responsible for setting everybody up. The Mavs want to have multiple ball-handlers on the floor at all times, so that’s going to prove to be a very valuable skill for Smith as time goes on.

  • He dunked, too.

    [wp_hyena imageurl=’https://www.mavs.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/dsj-360.gif’ data_hyena='{“slate”:”300,0.10,15″,”player_fade_speed”:”500″,”control_opacity”:”0,0.9″,”fade_speed”:”250,250″,”style”:2}’]

    What’s Next

    The Mavs (16-31) will play the Houston Rockets (32-12) on Wednesday at American Airlines Center at 7 p.m. Central.

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