On Friday night in Dallas, one team was playing for the playoffs, and the other team was playing for pride, and the team that was playing for the playoffs, was the team that dominated.
The Dallas Mavericks(39-28) led the Cleveland Cavaliers(21-46) by 25 points at halftime and cruised to a 110-90 victory at American Airlines Center. Dallas continues to keep their hold on the fifth seed and has a one-game lead over the sixth-seeded Blazers and a two-game lead over the seventh-seeded Lakers.
Dallas has won three straight and nine of their last 11, while Cleveland dropped its ninth straight.
Luka Doncic had 24 points and eight rebounds; Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 20 points for Dallas. For Cleveland, Collin Sexton had a game-high 27 points.
The Mavericks clinched the 2020-21 Southwest Division title. This is the fourth division title in franchise history and the first since 2009-10.
While winning your division does not mean as much as it once did, Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle is happy with the accomplishment.
“Listen, I think it’s something that’s always worthwhile,” he said. “It shows that you’re one of the better teams and certainly the best team in your region of the league and all of that kind of stuff. It’s a rivalry division; the southwest has been — talk about San Antonio, Houston, Memphis — these teams have a history of a lot of rivalry stuff, a lot of playoff stuff. It’s big. It’s big, and we’ll take it. Like I said, it’s important to get this win, try to get through this game unscathed, and get ready for Sunday.”
After starting the season 9-14, the Mavericks have gone 30-14 since, which Doncic discussed after the game.
“We just weren’t ourselves at the beginning,” he said. “We had a couple of new guys, and we had to get to know each other. But since then, I think we are playing pretty well.”
Dallas will play the Cavs again on Sunday in Cleveland, and while this another game Dallas should win, it’s always challenging to beat a team twice in a back-to-back situation, so the Mavericks cannot take anything for granted.
Notes:
-The Mavericks improved to a perfect 24-0 when leading after the first quarter and a perfect 13-0 when holding their opponent to under 100 points. The Mavs are also now 36-2 when they build a double-digit lead at any point in the game.
-This was the 833rd win of Coach Rick Carlisle’s career, which moves him into sole possession of 15th place on the NBA’s all-time wins list. Carlisle passed Cotton Fitzsimmons (832) to move into the top 15 and currently sits at 833-687 (.548) for his career.
-Cedi Osman had 22 points, five rebounds, and seven assists tonight. This is Osman’s fourth career game, recording 20+ points, five-plus rebounds, and five-plus assists.
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