The Dallas Mavericks (21-15)concluded a two-game set against the Portland Trailblazers( 9-25) on Friday night, but this time without their best player, Luka Doncic(ankle), but even with no Doncic, the Mavs had no issues against the Blazers.
Dallas led by as many as 39 points and defeated the Blazers 139-103 to sweep the two-game set against Portland at American Airlines Center.
On Wednesday, with Doncic, the Mavs routed the Blazers 126-97.
With a 29-point margin of victory over Portland on Wednesday and the 36-point margin, the Mavericks have recorded its largest margin of victory over a two-game span against the same opponent in franchise history. The 65-point margin of victory over the span of two games is tied for the sixth-largest margin of victory over a two-game span in franchise history.
Kyrie Irving scored 12 of his game-high 24 points in the first quarter, had nine rebounds, five assists, two steals, and two blocks, and Mavs coach Jason Kidd was happy with how Irving started things off for Dallas.
“Good win,” Kidd said. “A lot of bodies out. Next man mentality. I thought [Jaden] Hardy was great. [Kyrie Irving] got us off to a really good start there, kind of like what happened the last game. I thought [Kyrie] picked up right where he left off. But I thought as a group, everybody played hard. Josh [Green], those starters, [Derrick] Jones [Jr.] didn’t have to play 30-plus minutes today. But again, everyone who participated played at a high level and got us a team win.”
Doncic’s replacement, Jaden Hardy, filled in nicely as he had 19 points and career-highs of nine rebounds and nine assists.
“I feel like when I was out there, just slowing the game down and trying to make the right read when I’m out there,” Hardy said. “I feel like I can create and get in the paint easily, so just reading the defense and finding my teammates.”
Dallas won two games they were supposed to win, and they can continue to climb the standings if they can take advantage of their seven-game homestand, which continues on Sunday night against the number one seed in the Western Conference, the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Notes:
Irving’s nine rebounds tied for a season-high in rebounds. With nine rebounds in Utah (1/1/23), nine against Portland (1/3/24), and nine tonight, Kyrie has recorded three consecutive games with nine or more rebounds for the first time in his career.
Josh Green notched 14 points (7-8 FG), five rebounds, five assists and one steal. Green’s 14-5-5 marks the second 10-5-5 game of his career (23-5-7 vs. MEM, 3/13/23). His 14 points is his third-highest scoring outing this season (18 at GSW, 12/30/23; 15 at LAL, 11/22/23).
A.J. Lawson scored 14 points (4-8 FG, 1-4 3FG, 5-6 FT), five rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Dallas had six players in double figures.
For the time since December, the Dallas Mavericks(34-35) have fallen below .500 after losing to the Memphis Grizzlies 104-88 at home on Monday night.
Again, Dallas, who have lost three straight, was without their two best players, Luka Doncic(thigh) and Kyrie Irving(foot). Also, they were without Christian Wood(foot).
However, rookie Jaden Hardy scored 16 of his game-high 28 points in the first half, and the Mavs led 50-49 at halftime, but Memphis(41-26) outscored Dallas by 14 in the third and had their largest lead of 21 in the fourth.
With the loss, the Mavs dropped to the eighth seed in the West, and if the season ended today, they would have to win in the Play-In Tournament to make the playoffs.
According to their head coach Jason Kidd, Dallas has to get healthy in order to make a run in their final 13 games.
“Once the season is over,” Kidd said after the loss to Memphis. “It’s just the regular season. Well, that (the regular season could end, and the year is over)’s true, too. Then there has to be concern. Just understand, our health – this is what we have; these are the cards we’re dealt. Just like anybody in this league, we’ve got to play with the cards that we had tonight…
“Understand, we’re getting better – it’s just a matter of ‘can we be healthy in time to make a stretch run?’ If not, that’s just the season. No one is dying.”
While Dallas is the eighth seed right now, they are only two games behind the sixth and fifth-seeded teams, the Warriors and Clippers, and are 3.5 games behind the fourth-seeded Suns, so there’s still hope. However, Josh Green, who had 23 points, five rebounds, and seven assists on Monday, says Dallas has to start winning.
“We’ve got to win,” Green said. “It’s no other option now. We all need to have the mindset that we’re trying to win every single game from here on out. We’re playing against teams like the Lakers coming up and even the Spurs, where the young guys are trying to beat us. So, at the end of the day, whatever’s on all of our minds, it’s no more than that we need to win for the rest of the season and continue to win. Right now, the Western Conference is completely wide open, and we need to make sure that we’re winning games.”
Dallas gets back at it on Wednesday night in San Antonio against the Spurs.
The Dallas Mavericks announced Thursday that they have signed guard/forward Theo Pinson.
According to reports, it’s a one-year deal.
Pinson (6-5, 212) returns for his second season with Dallas after he joined the club midway through the 2021-22 campaign. In 19 games for the Mavericks last year, the 26-year-old averaged 2.5 points and 1.1 rebounds in 7.8 minutes per game. The four-year veteran scored a season-high 16 points (5-5 FG, 4-4 3FG, 2-2 FT) in the team’s regular-season finale against San Antonio on April 10.
The Greensboro, North Carolina, native originally signed a pair of 10-day contracts with Dallas under the COVID-related hardship allowance (12/20/21 and 12/31/21) before signing a two-way contract with the club (1/10/22).
In 87 career games with Brooklyn, New York, and Dallas, Pinson has averaged 2.9 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 8.7 minutes.
In addition, the team announced that they have signed second-round pick Jaden Hardy.
According to Marc Stein, it’s a three-year, $4.8 million deal that will make Hardy a restricted free agent after Year 3.
Dallas acquired the draft rights to Hardy, the 37th overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, from Sacramento in exchange for 2024 and 2028 second-round picks.
The 20-year-old spent the 2021-22 season with the NBA G League Ignite and averaged a team-high 19.8 points to go along with 4.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game in 24 games.
Hardy, a former Nevada Gatorade Player of the Year and Las Vegas Review-Journal Boys Athlete of the Year, will compete for the Mavericks’ Las Vegas summer league team that tips off against the Chicago Bulls on Friday.
The 6-6 guard will wear the number 3.
The Dallas Mavericks did not have draft picks for the second straight year, but this season, they found a way to get into the draft and grabbed G League Ignite guard Jaden Hardy after acquiring the 37th pick from Sacramento in exchange for 2024 and 2028 second-round picks Thursday night.
The 6-4 Hardy spent the 2021-22 season with the NBA G League Ignite and averaged a team-high 19.8 points to go along with 4.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game in 24 games.
“He’s a guy who can go get a bucket,” Mavs GM Nico Harrison said Thursday night. “He’s strong. He’s athletic. He’s a scorer. I think his upside is [that] he’s played with mature guys and been successful with strong, mature guys. I think if you look at a guy doing that in college versus doing that in the G League Ignite, I think it’s closer to what the NBA game is… If you look at his teammates [where] some of them are veterans; he had the ball in his hand because they gave him.”
The 19-year-old Hardy dropped in the draft, surprising many, including Harrison.
“We had him higher than 37 [laughs],” Harrison said Thursday night. “Yeah, we were surprised. We were really shocked that he kept slipping…
“I have no idea. I can’t tell you what other teams are thinking or saying. I’m glad he did, and we are excited that he did. He’s excited to be here, so I’m happy he slipped.”
Hardy was ranked as ESPN’s top guard and the No. 2 player in the 2021 high school class. The Detroit native averaged 30.4 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 8.4 assists as a junior at Coronado High School (Henderson, Nevada) en route to earning Nevada Gatorade Player of the Year, McDonald’s All-American, and USA Nike Hoops Summit in 2020-21.
Hardy got off to a slow start in the G League, but ultimately, he got acclimated and scored the ball at a high level, scoring over 20 points in the final five games of the season.
“He did struggle early on, but then he figured it out, Harrison said. “It’s kind of like, if you look at the G-League Ignite as an experiment, it shows that it works…
“He’s a young kid, played for the G League Ignite, and he can really score the ball. Super talented, he’s still raw – he’s young, so it’s going take a while. He was a second round draft pick, but he can really score the ball at a high level.”
Hardy can do it effectively off the bounce, is a solid shooter, and is a good addition for the Mavs. He may not contribute immediately, but he definitely has the talent to be a key piece in the future.
