Kristaps Porzingis took revenge on his former teammates on Friday night Mavericks with the overwhelming victory of the Wizards in Washington for 135-103, in a game in which the Dallas team, lacking inspiration in attack, came down 34 points. Despite this, Dallas star Luka Doncic was once again the game’s top scorer with 36 points, to which he added 7 rebounds and 6 assists. But Wizards forward Kentavious Caldwell-Pope answered the Slovenian star with a 35-point harvest (6 triples of 11 attempts), while Porzingis had 24 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists. Also, Rui Hachimura had 21 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. In total, 6 Wizards players exceeded 10 points, something that only Doncic and Jalen Brunson, with 21 points, managed to do in the Mavericks. And Mavs coach Jason Kidd was ejected in the fourth quarter for repeatedly protesting.
The loss in Washington now relegates the Mavericks to fourth place in the Western Conference. Although the Mavs are not going to lose their direct pass to the playoffs, the Golden State Warriors have been placed in third position, behind the Phoenix Suns and the Memphiz Grizzlies. For their part, the Wizards have been placed in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, although without any possibility of entering the play-in tournament that will determine the last teams that will go to the playoffs this season.
The Mavs, favorites in Washington
The Mavericks arrived at the Capital One Arena in Washington as the clear favorite. The Dallas had won six of the previous seven games and since the All-Star in February, they are one of the five best teams in the NBA. In that same period, the Wizards have established themselves as one of the worst teams with only 7 wins in 19 games. But, from the initial jump, the Wizards were superior and never let the Mavs get ahead of the scoreboard. Those from Washington moved the ball well in attack and at times effectively subdued the Mavericks on defense. Porzingis and Caldwell-Pope took advantage of the opportunities that the Dallas offered from the perimeter, which allowed them to finish the first quarter with 8 and 12 points, respectively, to their credit. Meanwhile, the Mavericks only found holes by playing closer to the rim and taking advantage of Doncic’s effectiveness, who scored 12 points in the first 12 minutes. When the first quarter ended, the Wizards had already left the scoreboard 9 points up after giving the Mavericks 40 points (40-31).
The Wizards leave
In the second quarter the same dynamic was maintained. The Mavs, without ideas or agility in attack, could not score from the perimeter and were content with the inside game. The Wizards didn’t have those problems and displayed a more mobile attack that allowed them to score from a multitude of positions. By halftime, the Wizards had extended their lead to 14 points, 67-53.
After the break, the situation did not improve for the visitors. As soon as the third quarter began, Doncic scored a triple that was answered by three consecutive triples from Caldwell-Pope, Porzingis and Hachimura. Doncic and Dorian Finney-Smith tried to answer but their misses from beyond the three-point line allowed the Wizards to go 78-58. The Wizards were up 26 points but a reaction in the last minutes by Doncic, with 2 consecutive triples, and another by Maxi Kleber, left the score in 94-78.
In the fourth quarter, the Mavericks’ resistance evaporated with the ejection of Dallas coach Jason Kidd for technical accumulation. With Kidd in the locker room for repeatedly protesting to the referees, the Wizards hammered the Mavs with a 7-0 run in one minute to put a 27-point lead on the scoreboard, 112-85. From that moment on, those from Dallas did not raise their heads again. The Wizards came to have a 34-point lead in the final moments of the game that finally ended with a 135-103 in the light.