DALLAS — Watch the Dallas Mavericks play the Golden State Warriors on WFAA on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. CT, over-the-air for free. Here's how to watch and re-scan your TV for a clearer signal.
Looking to close out what seemed like an eternity of games exclusively against the Eastern Conference with a final foray at the Chicago Bulls, the Dallas Mavericks displayed an aggressive inside-out game that showed their potential to be a playoff dark horse in the stacked Western Conference.
The Mavs came out swinging from the opening whistle in Chicago and truly never looked back, putting 44 points on a shell-shocked Bulls defense in the 1st quarter. The Maverick lead was at 28 after 12 minutes and the night ended with a 127-92 complete effort win that gave Dallas three victories in a row.
The biggest weakness for the Mavericks entering the season showed up as a strength on that night. Trade deadline acquisition Daniel Gafford continued his perfect streak with his fourth consecutive game without a missed field goal, up to 28 field goals made in a row. Gafford ended the night going 9-for-9 and finishing with 20 points.
Any time a double attempt was made on Luka Doncic, he seemingly found Gafford or fellow center Dereck Lively II in the paint for a quick two. The 20 year old rookie Lively had a career-high 22 points, and accounted for scoring on half of Doncic’s 14 total assists.
Adding this type of production from their centers to the near automatic output of Doncic makes the Mavericks look dangerous going forward. Doncic was named the Western Conference player of the week for the period of March 4-10 prior to the game.
In celebration, Doncic had another triple-double with 27 points and 12 rebounds and is now up to 17 on the 2023-2024 season. Just about the only thing that didn’t go right for Doncic and Dallas was his streak of games with a triple-double of 35 or more points was snapped. Doncic surely appreciated the win and the production of the Dallas frontcourt more, however.
Doncic also moved up to 2nd place all-time (1,143) for most 3-pointers made in Mavs history, passing Jason Terry while only looking up at Dirk Nowitzki (1,982) on the franchise list. At his current rate, he’ll likely break Dirk’s mark before hitting 30, if he remains in a Dallas uniform.
With the win, Dallas also pulled within a game of a coveted guaranteed playoff spot in the West with 6th place Phoenix.
The Mavs now return home to face the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night in a game that will be aired on WFAA. The Warriors (34-30, 10th place) are 2-3 in their last five games, including a 52 point blowout loss to Boston. The rematch of the 2022 Western Conference finals is in name only, with altered rosters on both sides and Steph Curry likely out with an aggravated ankle sprain suffered late last week versus the Chicago.
The Mavericks are running out of time to move up the standings, with only 17 games remaining before the playoffs. Three of those remaining games are against these Warriors. Dallas would be wise to take advantage of missing the greatest sharpshooter in league history with him out of action and punish Draymond Green on lobs with their cooking Lively-Gafford combo as it heads into matchups with the top teams in the conference.
After Golden State, Dallas will next go up I-35 for a Thursday night matchup against the Western Conference leading Oklahoma City Thunder. OKC has the second best home record in the NBA, a likely benefit of their players having nothing to do outside of the arena.
A successful showing against the Thunder would bode well for the Mavs’ confidence as they return to host current champion Denver to close out the weekend. Traversing the final stretch of their regular season in direct competition with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic can help Dallas make the case for Doncic’s MVP hopes while more importantly improving their positioning for the games that truly matter.
Do you think the Mavericks can make a dent in their deficit in the Western Conference? Share your thoughts with Irvin on Twitter @Twittirv.
