Geez the Mavericks are fun when they play defense and get out in transition. Right?? Dallas made the most of Washington's 23 team turnovers tonight, coasting to an easy win over a team that had just beaten the Houston Rockets the night before.
The Mavs started off in just a slight funk, but got it figured out pretty quickly. The transition defense was problematic at first, though I'm not sure that's all on the Mavs. John Wall is an absolute terror on the fast break. Dirk was likewise a bit off to start, missing his first three shots (all jumpers), but then finally got it going with a vintage Dirk possession. Parsons handed the ball of to Dirk and then waived Rondo off as Dirk backed Paul Pierce down one-on-one. Dirk took his time and knocked down the one-legged fadeaway like a million other times in his career. Good stuff.
After the first few minutes, Dallas settled in, and the game became fairly back and forth. There was a cool possession where Parsons used that fantastic fake of his to bait Gortat into fouling him, then Parsons just sort of tossed in a shot for the and-1 (unfortunately CP missed the free throw). Later, Tyson set a perfect screen to provide Parsons an open 3-pointer, and then immediately followed that with a rebound and outlet pass to Rondo for an absolutely gorgeous reverse layup.
Nevertheless, the Wizards held onto a slight lead early, until Charlie V took over. Devin and Charlie were the first Dallas subs, coming in together around the 6-minute mark in the first quarter. Charlie quickly went to work. He tied the game up at 13-13 with a layup in the face of some quality Pierce defense, then hit a 3-pointer, and then a Shawn-Marion-esque runner to take the lead. Villanueva continues being the Mavs best scorer off the bench, though he had plenty of help tonight.
Towards the end of the first, Wall and Monta traded some awesome fast break scores. First, Monta nabbed a steal and raced to the basket, but Wall stayed right with him and seemed to have blocked Monta's layup from behind. Fortunately, it was called a goal tend. However, John Wall is just absurd. He then took the in-bounds pass and blurred down the court like the Flash, scoring a layup seemingly before any Dallas defender could blink. Those two would continue with these antics for most of the first half.
Greg Smith had some nice play tonight. He had 4 quick points and a block to begin the second half, and he also hit some free throws and grabbed a steal at one point. As far as I'm concerned, Jermaine O'Neal can take his time deciding whether he wants to play basketball (and if he will do so in Dallas), because Smith is really coming into his own lately.
Speaking of Smith, the Mavs' bench was really, really good tonight. At one point in the second quarter, Dallas's leading scorers were Villenueva, Richard Jefferson, and Smith. Jefferson looked particularly good tonight, scoring 10 in the first half and playing some pretty quality defense to boot. (I do have to point out that RJeff did have an embarrassing missed dunk that he elected to drive for instead of taking a wide open corner 3 that he almost certainly would have hit.) Barea also contributed big, tossing 4 assists and leading the Mavs on a big 11-2 run in relief of Rajon Rondo.
Monta and John Wall continued trading ridiculous fast break scores in the second. At one point, Monta tried to force a really difficult pass to Dirk, who was being doubled. The Wizards got the easy steal, leading to a showy dunk by an all-alone Wall. I will say this: when John Wall gets a head of steam, he seems nearly unstoppable. Fortunately, Monta would have the last laugh, absolutely drilling a three-point shot in Wall's face late in the half. Monta had 15 points at halftime, as compared to Wall's 11.
The half ended perfectly, as Chandler Parsons rattled in an extremely long 2-point jumper to take a 63-48 lead into the locker room. Tyson Chandler had 8 rebounds at the half, and I was overjoyed to see the Mavericks finally scoring 60+ points in a first half again. But my favorite stat by far from the first half was the Mavs' 100% 3-point shooting.
The Mavs stayed ahead of the Wizards by 20+ points for most of the third quarter. The very first possession of the quarter featured my favorite play of the game. Dirk and Monta ran some pick and roll, like usual. What wasn't usual was the over-the-shoulder backwards pass that Monta tossed to a wide open Dirk after receiving the hand-off, and Dirk sure as hell wasn't about to miss that shot. It was amaze-balls.
Monta kept stealing the ball, at one point tossing an outlet ahead to Parsons (who tripped over Beal's legs to draw free throws) and another time taking it himself to draw the foul on the fast break.
Somewhere around the middle of the third quarter, something really odd happened. The refs stopped play for no apparent reason, and the Mavs announcers expressed the same ridicule that many fans expressed on twitter, as the whistle was apparently blown because Nene lost a shoe. (As far as I know there isn't any rule that allows refs to stop play for such issues, but I also didn't study the NBA rulebook tonight.) In any event, Chandler Parsons responded to the officiating tom-foolery with some crafty off-ball movement to get open in the corner, and he just murdered the resulting three-point jumper. Whatever happened, Nene sprained his ankle and did not return.
Speaking of Chandler Parsons, I LOVE his ball fake skills. He played well tonight and really utilized the fake. On one such occasion late in the third, Parsons seemed to pick up a 4-point play. He faked Rasual Butler into the air, then jumped into Butler on his jumper and nailed what initially looked like a 3-pointer. Unfortunately, Chandler's foot was on the line when he pulled up, and then he missed the free throw. Nevertheless, Parsons had a pretty good game, finishing with 14 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, and a really fun soaring block of Kevin Seraphin.
Rondo was oddly quiet tonight despite having a really quality game. Of course, #headbandRondo had to have at least a couple of fantastic highlight plays. At one point late in the third, it seemed like maybe the Mavs were letting off the gas some, with players standing around on offense too much for my taste. Rondo quickly broke that spell with a fantastic score, dribbling past a couple of defenders with a slick fake and a gorgeous scoop layup. Later he had an awesome bounce pass to Greg Smith (who was so wide open that no one looked like they were within 2 feet of him) for a thunderous dunk.
The Mavs coasted throughout the fourth quarter to an easy win. The score was 95-70 for what felt like ages, eventually broken by another Charlie V 3-pointer. Eventually, Ray Felton, Dwight Powell, and Al-Farouq Aminu got some burn, and all three looked pretty decent. Aminu played with great energy as usual and had a nice dunk. Felton tossed a Rondo-esque no-look bounce pass to Dwight Powell for an and-1 dunk. Powell missed the free throws, but the dunk still counted as his first 2 points as a Mav.
Overall, this was a really fun game. Dallas did what they should have done, overwhelming a tired Washington team on the second night of a back-to-back. Probably my favorite game of the budding Rondo era.