Luka Doncic led Dallas with 33 points and ten assists, but it was not enough as the Mavericks fell in a high-scoring affair to the Washington Wizards 120-114 at home on Saturday.
Trey Burke had a season-high 14 points off the bench for the Mavericks. Kristaps Porzingis and Maxi Kleber scored 13 each, a season-high for Kleber.
Dallas’ defense entered the game ranked 11th in the NBA at 105.4 points allowed per game, but the Wizards had no trouble scoring. Washington’s 120 points are two points short of their season-high and five points short of Dallas’s most allowed this season.
The Mavericks have been one of the best teams at home all season. This loss is only the second home loss out of eight games in Dallas. Their record is now 10-8 overall, and they sit at fifth place in the Western Conference.
For Washington, the win snaps a five-game losing streak at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. The Wizards record improved to 13-7; they are now tied for second place in the Eastern Conference.
Washington’s depth was on display all night. They played without starting point guard Spencer Dinwiddie yet still had plenty of scoring options.
Bradley Beal led them as he scored 26 points, Kyle Kuzma had 10 of his 22 total points in the fourth quarter, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope finished with 16 points.
Daniel Gafford executed his role in the paint superbly and finished with 14 points and ten rebounds.
It was apparent early that the game would be high-scoring. Both teams started lights-out on offense, and defense was nowhere to be found. Doncic got going early; he scored six of nine shot attempts and finished the first quarter with 15 points.
The Wizards made 68 percent of their shot attempts in the opening quarter as the Mavericks’ defense struggled. Washington led 41-36 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter entirely belonged to Dallas. Their hot shooting offense continued while the Wizards shooting success faltered temporarily. Trey Burke came off the bench to score nine points in the quarter for the Mavericks.
Dallas scored 33 points in the quarter and held the Wizards to only 20 points in the quarter. The Mavericks led 69-61 at halftime and had made 58.3 percent of their shots.
The second half was a different story for Dallas. They were held to a 34 percent shooting percentage in the third and fourth quarters. Washington outscored Dallas by six in the third quarter but still trailed 93-91 at the start of the fourth.
The WIzards started the final quarter on a 10-6 run to go up 101-99 with eight minutes left on the clock. The score remained close throughout the quarter even though the Dallas offense faltered down the stretch, while the Wizards continued to easily get past the Mavericks’ defense.
Washington made 10-of-16 shots (62.5 percent) and three of their six three-point attempts in the final quarter. In contrast, Dallas made just 7-of-23 fourth-quarter shot attempts when the game was on the line.
“If you’re going to be in a shootout, you’ve got to make shots,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said in the postgame press conference. “We didn’t make them at the right time. They did.”
One positive Dallas can take from this game is the success of their reserve players. Even without the team’s best reserve player Jalen Brunson, the Mavericks bench outscored the Wizards’ 56-35.
Brunson was forced to miss the game with an injury, but the other reserve players such as Trey Burke and Maxi Kleber stepped up in his absence.
The bench shot 41 percent from the three-point line and 100 percent from the free-throw line.
