Before the Dallas Mavericks assembled for training camp last month, coach Jason Kidd went out of his way to say that Christian Wood would be in the running for the NBA’s Sixth Man award.
After two games, Kidd’s words have been prophetic.
Wood followed up Wednesday’s 25-point, eight-rebound performance against the Phoenix Suns with 25 points and 12 rebounds during Saturday’s 137-96 win over the Memphis Grizzlies at American Airlines Center. It marked the first time a Mavs player has scored at least 25 points in his first two games with this organization.
But it comes as no surprise to Kidd, as he’s always held Wood in high regard.
“I think he’s being himself,” Kidd said. “He’s a scorer. He’s a basketball player. We’re not asking him to play football. He’s being himself and I think he’s getting comfortable each day as you see on both ends.
“We need him to score. We’re not asking him to do anything that he hasn’t done in the past in other places.”
In all, Wood has 50 points and 20 rebounds in just 49 minutes in two games. He came to the Mavs from Houston during the offseason after being a starter with the Rockets, but has really flourished in his new role coming off the bench.
“I’m just trying to play hard and do the best I can in the role that I’m in, and that’s really about it,” he said. “I’m motivated coming off the bench or starting – either way. I’ve said that before.
“This team trusts me and their trust is even getting better with me in terms of offensively and defensively. Today I was mismatched with a 
guard and I was guarding Steven Adams. It was a bunch of mismatches defensively, and they were trusting me, so it was getting better.”
After glancing at the final stat sheet, Wood also knows his free throw shooting got better. Against the Suns, the 6-9 center was just 3-of-10 from the charity stripe, but Saturday he was 12-of-14 from the line.
“It got better today,” Wood said. “Last game I said it was inexcusable, but I bounced back today. Sometimes you’ve got to give yourself a pat on the back.”
Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins may not exactly want to pat Wood on the back, but he admits he believes Wood will be a huge asset to the Mavs.
“Another playmaker for them, skill inside and outside, and for them a guy that can stretch the floor,” Jenkins said. “Unique pick-and-roll combination with him and (Luka) Doncic. Obviously, (also with Spencer) Dinwiddie when he’s the primary (ball) handler for them.”
Jenkins recalls the issues his team had with Wood when he played for Houston, and those issues continued Saturday.
“(Wood has) given us problems in the past when he was with the Rockets,” he said. “He’s a strong driver on top of a really good shooter. He’s got length for offensive rebounds, and defensively we’ll see how the Mavs use him over the course of the year.
“But versality with that size and that length can be bothersome when we’re trying to attack the rim. (He’s) a guy that can be a great playmaker and a good two-way player for the Mavs.”
Kidd added that Wood also has chipped in nicely on the defensive end of the floor, and on the board, where he had eight defensive rebounds Saturday.
“For him to be able to rebound for us and then also be able to switch on different assignments, he’s shown the growth on the defensive end,”
Kidd said. “He’s working extremely hard on both offense, but also defense. He’s spending a lot of time with our coaches.”
Wood also spent some time enamored with the sellout crowd of 20,377.
“I haven’t really experienced a playoff atmosphere, so today I liked it, I loved it,” he said. “I don’t know if you could tell, but I was having fun out there.”
One jaw-dropping play which added to the fun Wood experienced occurred when Doncic executed a fancy dribble behind his back, got in the lane and split the defense and hoisted a perfect job pass to Wood, which he slammed home through the basket as the crowd roared its approval.
“(Doncic) actually knew exactly what he was going to do that whole entire play,” Wood said. “He told me, ‘Just catch the lob, I’m just going to get to the paint and just stay and dunk it.’
“That’s one of his incredible plays that he makes. Being on the receiving end of that, it was fun.”
In his two games with the Mavs, Wood is 15-of-27 from the field, including 5-of-10 from three-point range. In other words, he has stepped up big-time.
“When you look at scoring, he’s someone that comes of the bench that gives us depth there with him and Tim (Hardaway Jr.) being able to score the ball,” Kidd said. “I thought again he took great shots.
“But on the defensive end I thought he did a really good job for us.”
In short, Wood has played two games like a frontrunner to win this year’s Sixth Man Award.
DONCIC, MORANT ARE DIFFERENT: Mavs point guard Luka Doncic and Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant are both at the top of the conversation when discussions about who will emerge as this year’s winner of the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award.
But the skill sets of the two talented players couldn’t be more different.
“I think they have different styles of how they make winning basketball happen night in and night out,” Jenkins said. “Obviously, we’re blessed to have a young man in Ja that can push the pace for 48 minutes. That’s his biggest challenge — being able to do that for four quarters.
“He’s done that beautifully for the last two games. His tone-setting on the defensive end just continues to challenge him to be that two-way player.”
As with Morant, Jenkins knows Doncic has the capacity to give opponents headaches on a nightly basis.
“Obviously, the Mavs ask a lot of Luka with his playmaking skills and scoring ability, but also how he distributes the ball at such a high level and his improved defense last year,” Jenkins said. “Obviously, with his physicality and placement in their scheme, a lot is asked of those two guys and there’s no surprise they’re both MVP candidates.”
Mavs coach Jason Kidd describes Morant as “fearless” – a description he has used when describing Doncic.
“When you talk about Ja’s game he understand what he’s trying to do on each possession, he gets to his spots, he can get to the rim with the best of them,” Kidd said. “It’s kind of Derrick Rose (Allen Iverson)-ish. I hope he doesn’t mind that comparison.
“But defensively, you talk about his size. He plays above the rim, because he’s going to end up with a blocked shot that you didn’t account for or you didn’t see him if he comes flying from the weak side or from behind. It’s kind of cool to see at his height the impact that he has on the game.”
By the way, Doncic had more points in the first quarter (21) than Morant had in Saturday’s entire game (20). Doncic finished with 32 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists, while Morant contributed one rebound and four assists.
BRIEFLY: Davis Bertans (right knee effusion), Frank Ntilikina (right ankle effusion) and Facundo Campazzo did not dress Saturday. 
“Campazzo, he’s in the process of getting his visa,” coach Jason Kidd said. “We’re hoping to have that completed early next week.”. .Luka Doncic’s streak of consecutive made free throws ended at 15 less than four minutes into Saturday’s game. Doncic went 13-of-13 from the line in Wednesday’s season opener against Phoenix and made his first two charity tosses Saturday before misfiring on his third attempt. . .All 14 Mavs players who dressed played. Was it a coach’s decision to play everybody? Coach Jason Kidd said: “That was the council. The leadership council made sure everybody played in the opener.”. .The Mavs’ entire coaching staff and support staff wore Luka 1s during Saturday’s game. Those are Luka Doncic’s brand new sneakers. “Man, they’re comfortable, for sure,” Kidd said. “And they look good. I didn’t have any shoes like this growing up. We’ll see if we can continue to keep wearing them. We’re 1-0. The Luka 1’s are great. They felt great and I thought everyone who had them on looked good.”. .Before the game, the Mavs observed a moment of silence for NBA referee Tony Brown, who died this past Thursday at the age of 55 due to pancreatic cancer.
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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