He can run a pick and roll if you need him, but he really does take advantage of the space created by Doncic and Irving in ways spot up shooters simply can’t. He pushes the pace well, but isn’t reckless. Not necessarily another All-Star, or another playmaker, but just another guy that can attack closeouts, drive and kick, keep the ball pinging from side-to-side, preferably that isn’t a short guard.Įxum is all of that, and his ability to connect between the stars to the other role players jumps off the screen. Those spot up players are certainly valuable considering Doncic’s three point shot creation, but it’s always been clear the team needs a little extra juice on the perimeter. The Mavericks for a long time have surrounded Doncic with mostly standstill, spot up shooters that rely on Doncic’s brilliance to score. While these past two games are against lottery teams, Exum’s presence in the starting lineup feels natural. He splashed in two three pointers, which felt like cheating considering everything else Exum was bringing to the table. Exum again played another connective game on Friday night, but this time there was the added bonus of scoring! The 23 points were a season high and not far off from Exum’s career-high of 28. Exum is starting by necessity, but if he keeps this up, he might have won a permanent role with the starting five.Īgainst the Jazz, Exum didn’t score, but played solid defense and kept the ball moving with seven assists and zero turnovers. and Kyrie Irving have missed games in the past week. Right now Exum is starting because of the multitude of Mavericks injuries - Williams and Josh Green missed tonight’s game, while those two plus Tim Hardaway Jr. The Blazers just had zero beef at the rim, and the Mavericks punished them for it all night. Dallas took advantage of Portland center DeAndre Ayton missing due to injury. This is extra bizarre when you consider the Blazers are one of the worst three point shooting teams in the league. Instead the Mavericks, a team that rarely scores in the paint despite the presence of Doncic and Irving, scored an eye-popping 62 points in the paint, compared to the Blazers 30. Tonight, Dallas almost got a taste of its own medicine - the Blazers outshot the Mavericks from deep 18-12, and normally when the Mavericks make less threes than their opponent over the last year or so, they lose. Three point shot variance is perhaps the leading cause for a lot of outcomes in today’s NBA, as most teams get up so many threes that a game can be distilled down to “make-or-miss.” The Mavericks have thrived on that strategy, loading up the roster with tons of shooters and rolling the dice that their three point shooting can paper over the rest of the roster’s weaknesses. It wasn’t a pretty game for the Mavericks, as the Blazers had 18 offensive rebounds and Dallas had an unusually high 15 turnovers, but Portland’s anemic offense dried up at the right moment as the Mavericks dared any Blazer not named Simons or Sharpe to beat them. Starting in the place of the injured Grant Williams, Exum had one of the best games of his somewhat brief NBA career - he finished with 23 points, six rebounds, and seven assists. Simons barely scored after that moment, Doncic turned it on after being invisible in the second and third quarters, and Dante Exum continued an excellent all-around performance. The Mavericks regrouped after that and shut the door. Simons went on a mini run to start the fourth, cutting the Mavericks lead to 99-98 with over nine minutes left. That duo continuously poked at the Mavericks lead toward the end of the second quarter and for most of the second half. Simons and Shaedon Sharpe were the entire Portland offense, combining for 54 points. Irving’s injury allowed the Blazers to perhaps stick around a bit closer than they should. Dallas jumped out to a quick 28-10 lead in the first quarter, and spent much of the first half with a double-digit lead. Irving never returned to the game with what the Mavericks have called a right foot injury.Īfter demolishing the Utah Jazz by 50 points on Wednesday night, it looked like the Mavericks were well on their way to another blowout against a bad Trail Blazers team. In a scary moment, Kyrie Irving left the game in the second quarter after Dwight Powell feel directly onto his lower legs while trying to get an offensive rebound. Anfernee Simons led Portland with 30 points. Luka Doncic led all scorers with 32 points, with 14 coming in the first quarter. The Dallas Mavericks defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 125-112 Friday night in Portland, in a weird game that saw the Mavericks have a big lead jostle back and forth before finally closing the door on a pesky Trail Blazers squad in the fourth quarter.
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