The Mavericks needed to rediscover victory, and they did so on their visit to the FedEx Forum in Memphis. The Texans took the game 94-104, rebalancing their record of victories and losses (12-12) at the cost of ending the streak of the locals, who had just won their last five games. Jenkins’s team, however, had not only prevailed in those meetings, but had achieved it without ever trailing on the scoreboard, a streak that has not been seen in the NBA since 2007 and that has been truncated this morning.
Luka Doncic, with his 26 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists was the main responsible for this. The Slovenian once commanded Kidd’s men in which it was a good night for him at the level of success, as he released an effectiveness of 52.6% (including a 5/10 in triples), although not so much at the level of care of ball. The point guard committed up to 9 losses, his worst record of the season, although this did not prevent his presence on the track from ending with +18 for his team.
Kristaps Porzingis, with 19 points in just 23 minutes, seconded his performance, while Reggie Bullock added 15 points and an important 4/6 in triples in a game with little outside success for the Mavs that he and Luka were in charge of amending. However, it was on the defensive side of the court where Dallas managed to cement its triumph, as it managed to contain a team that was arriving in very good shape and limit its offensive generation capacity.
“We are playing at an excellent level in defense,” said Kidd, very satisfied with his team in that regard. “In addition, the performance in attack is gradually improving. It is a good sign that today we have shot with a 48% effectiveness and we have not shot 40 3-pointers ».
The Grizzlies, for their part, are still unable to count on Ja Morant, who not only continues to be injured but has had to withdraw from the team due to health protocols against Covid-19. Jenkins’ men were led by Jaren Jackson Jr. and his 26 points, but the rest of the team members had more problems and did not finish shining. Dillon Brooks, Desmond Bane and De’Anthony Melton were able to finish with 15, 14 and 13 points respectively, but all of them suffered from the defense of Dallas and were left with relatively scarce data (all three below 40%). made it difficult to really stand out.
Brooks also finished the game sent off after receiving two techniques for his continuous protests to the referees. The forward left quite frustrated, and assured that the collectors had allowed the toughness of the game to get out of hand in the second half after being surprisingly strict in the first.
(Cover photo: Justin Ford / Getty Images)