Dallas shows up for a home game but is still waiting for Portland.
The Portland Trail Blazers lacked their defensive game plan and much of their self-respect in a stunning loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night. Luka Doncic scored 41 and Kyrie Irving 29 as the Mavericks dismantled and demolished the visitors from Portland. Dallas had 78 points at halftime and cruised to a 126-97 win.
If you missed the action and have a high pain tolerance, you can read our quarterly summary here. Afterwards, other factors that influenced the result are listed here.
Pace and physicality
From the start of the competition. The Mavericks seemed intent on bullying the visiting Blazers. They played with a physicality that the Blazers simply couldn't match. It initially showed up in tough battles for rebounds, but eventually turned into a Mavericks parade in the paint. All night long, Dallas absorbed contact, rebounded off the Blazers and continued to score at the rim. Portland had no such luck, collapsing every time their bodies hit an opponent and throwing up on looping attempts.
This adds insult to injury. The larger, more muscular Mavericks also outplayed Portland. Their older guards and forwards beat the Blazers on the court multiple times, leaving you scratching your head and wondering what youth and athleticism are for.
Dallas ended up with a 52-36 lead in points in the paint and a 28-14 lead at the break. No matter how well the Blazers shot (and they didn't shoot well), they weren't going to overcome this. If head coach Chauncey Billups isn't rapping classic DMX in the locker room during this effort, nothing will happen.
Solve the Lukic cube
In Portland's first two games against the Mavericks, they seemed determined to double-team the ball out of Luka Doncic's hands. It didn't really work, as Lukas proves with his 40-point triple-double in the last meeting.
Tonight they relaxed the tactics, preferring to let Toumani Camara try to beat Doncic one-on-one, shadow a nearby defender to help in case Doncic drove, and turn on the screens for hands to leave in your pockets.
This approach was no more effective than the other. Doncic scored 30 of his 41 goals in the first half alone. But the other cost was Kyrie Irving's production. Dallas’ “other” guard was able to feast on Portland’s outside defenders. He started with simple threes and then turned them into a series of shots. Irving shot 10-19, 4-8 from distance.
Simon's crime or bust
All night, Anfernee Simons was the only Portland scorer the Mavericks respected. And for some reason…he started well, snapping the Blazers out of a losing streak early in the game with dead-eye shots. But the Mavericks treated Simons the same way the Blazers once treated Luka, consistently doubling him. Not only did his score fail, but so did Portland's. Once Simons was out of action, the Blazers were stuck with extremely tough attempts from him and Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe shooting over the top. It did not work.
Kudos to Simons for attracting attention. Woe betide Portland that he couldn't break through the defense himself and that no one else came close to being able to move up.
In the end, Simons led Portland's starters with 15 points on 5-for-16 shooting. He shot 1-7 from beyond the arc. Sharpe scored 16 with a far more efficient 6-12, but he himself only hit 1-5 from distance. Henderson shot 2-11 and scored 7 points.
Center problems
The Blazers tried to make do with a center tandem of Ibou Badji and Duop Reath tonight. Each had isolated moments where everything was fine, but overall it was a disaster. They had trouble keeping the paint in check, let alone helping on the perimeter. The Dallas bigs blew them away. Every time Portland's centers came within three feet of a driver, he was fouled. It wasn't a pretty sight.
And that was before Reath was sent off with 1:30 left in the second period for a Flagrant 2 after a seemingly not-so-intentional elbow swing on a turn that made contact with the nose of Josh Green.
The centers totaled 2 points and 6 rebounds in 21 minutes of play tonight.
Jabari Walker started the second half in a desperate attempt to get something going. He finished the game with 4 points and 5 rebounds in 17 minutes before leaving the game with a knee injury.
Fouls
The first half of the game was overshadowed by a never-ending buffet of whistles. Some of them came from Portland because they weren't in the right position, but honestly I just didn't understand some of them. Any hint of a whisper from the eyelashes of a doe moving near a Mavericks player drew a foul. It ended up sustaining Dallas' attack and destroying what was left of Portland's defense.
Dallas shot 41 free throws at the end of the game. 25 of these occurred in the first two quarters.
Next
Box score
For better or worse, the Blazers face the Mavericks again on Friday night, again at 5:30 p.m., Pacific.
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