DALLAS — The Mavericks added center Daniel Gafford at the trade deadline and, boy, has his addition played out well for Dallas.
His impact was felt immediately, dropping 19 points and nine rebounds in his Mavericks debut against Oklahoma City in February. Gafford and rookie center Dereck Lively II have split duty over the past few weeks in the starting lineup, but Gafford's last five games have put him into position to take down an NBA record of a Hall of Famer.
After going 5-for-5 from the field against the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night, Gafford has made 33 consecutive field goals, the second-longest streak in NBA history. The only person with more is Wilt Chamberlain, who made 35 baskets in a row from Feb. 17, 1967 to Feb. 28, 1967.
Here is a look at Gafford's five-game stretch thus far:
- March 5 vs. Pacers – 16 points on 7-for-7 from the field
- March 7 vs. Heat – 12 points on 5-for-5 from the field
- March 9 vs. Pistons – 17 points on 7-for-7 from the field
- March 11 vs. Bulls – 20 points on 9-for-9 from the field
- March 13 vs. Warriors – 10 points on 5-for-5 from the field
"I try to tell myself to not worry about it. If I do it, that's good and I'm going to celebrate it, of course, but at the end of the day, I just want to go out and win games," Gafford said after the win against the Warriors.
Gafford leads the NBA in field goal percentage (71%), mainly because most of his baskets are dunks, alley-oops and layups. Nevertheless, Gafford's dominance in the paint – as well as Lively's – is something the Mavericks have been desperately searching for ever since the Tyson Chandler days.
"[Gafford is] playing great. He has great hands. Luka, [Kyrie] ... guys are looking for him," Kidd said of Gafford's streak. "Being able to take the physicality and to be able to finish layups and also dunks is big."
In fact, 17 of the 33 field goals have been dunks/alley-oops and five have been putback layups after grabbing an offensive rebound.
Dallas is 6-0 with Gafford in the starting lineup and 3-5 with him coming off the bench. Dallas takes on Oklahoma City Thursday night on the tail end of a back-to-back, with Gafford just three consecutive field goals away from breaking Chamberlain's NBA record.
Tip-off between the Mavericks and Thunder is set for 9 p.m. CST and will be aired nationally on TNT.
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