3 thoughts after the Dallas Mavericks shock the Memphis Grizzlies, 114-113

The Dallas Mavericks defeated the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night, 114-113 on a game winning shot from Luka Doncic. The afforementioned Doncic led Dallas with 29 points, nine assists and five rebounds. Grayon Allen was the high point man for Memphis, scoring 23.

On the road against the Memphis Grizzlies, the Dallas Mavericks looked ready to play early. By the six minute mark, all five starters scored for Dallas. But the Mavericks were unprepared for star shooting guard for the Grizzlies, Ted Cruz... I mean Grayson Allen. While all the non-Luka Doncic Mavericks seemed awake, Allen poored in the points, keeping Memphis ahead throughout the frame. The Mavericks found themselves trailing after one quarter, 34-32.

One might expect the Mavericks to come out in the second against the physical Grizzlies, ready to fight back. For most of the frame, that would be a mistaken assumption as Dallas continued to miss open threes (well, mainly Maxi Kleber) and give up easy looks from Memphis. Dallas big men led the way, with Kristaps Porzingis and Dwight Powell finding the bottom of the net, but defensively the Mavericks just couldn’t keep Memphis down long enough to find a sustained run. At half time, Dallas still trailed 60-57.

Dallas looked lively in the third, with Luka Doncic somewhat tired of passing out of lay ups for bricked threes. He scored a bulk of his points in the frame. Jonas Valanciunas had himself a quarter, though, shoving and boarding and tipping in shots as the Grizzlies did their best to muck up a game with their ‘three yards and a cloud of dust’ style of basketball. But, because Dallas was just sloppy enough, the Grizzlies managed to extend their lead and Dallas trailed 89-83.

The Mavericks kept pushing the quarter, even taking the lead for a few possessions early in the frame. Yet the grindy Grizzlies manage to keep Dallas at bay, going up by six points with just over six minutes remaining. The game felt out of hand, despite plenty of time remaining. A Luka Doncic three and a Dorian Finney-Smith three off an offensive rebound tied things up at 104 with four minutes remaining. But the Mavericks would never grab the lead, with Memphis scoring on free throws then a Kyle Anderson three. Things went all the way down to the wire. Following Grayson Allen’s missed free throws, Luka Doncic did this:

A game winning three, again, with no time remaining. The Dallas Mavericks win 114-113.

Betting to be lucky than good

What if I told you I had most of this recap written, only to have to re-write it? You’d believe me as I’m a nattering nabob of negativism. And yet here we are and I’m so happy to be in this position. I don’t even know what to say. Might need to walk around before analyzing this game more.

Grayson Allen, a 90% free throw shooter, missing both! Luka stumbling into a three! What a win! The Mavericks are now within a half game of the Blazers.

Hit open threes

We’ll know more by tomorrow but the number of open threes the Mavericks missed feels close to infinity. Luka Doncic passed up (a different problem) many open shots to feed shooters and they have to connect. Don’t expect Hardaway, Kleber, or anyone else to miss that many shots again. Or so we hope.

Dwight Powell, secret hero

It might get lost in the hubbub but the man we complain about the most had a HUGE 12 points and eight rebounds . He was efficient, effective, and important in a game that feels wildly impactful for the Dallas Mavericks. Good on you Dwight.

Podcast coming shortly along with stats to know and anything else we want to write. WOO what a win.

Here’s the postgame podcast, Mavs Moneyball After Dark. If you can’t see the embed below “More from Mavs Moneyball”, click here. And if you haven’t yet, subscribe by searching “Mavs Moneyball podcast” into your favorite podcast app.