The Dallas Mavericks are The Dallas Express‘ “Team of the Week” after winning their seventh game in a row against the Phoenix Suns and rising to sixth in the Western Conference.
The winning streak, which began three days before the NBA Trade Deadline when the Mavs came up with a massive road win over the Philadelphia 76ers and rounded out their East Coast road trip with back-to-back wins in Brooklyn and New York, is tied with the Boston Celtics for the longest ongoing streak in the NBA.
“I think the guys are having fun,” head coach Jason Kidd told the media during his postgame press conference on Thursday. “They want to win, and you can see that energy on the floor. … We were on a roll, then we were on the break. Sometimes, you can come out flat, but I thought the guys did a great job tonight.”
The February 8 game against the New York Knicks marked the beginning of the “new-look” Mavericks after the team traded away Seth Curry, Grant Williams, Richaun Holmes, and multiple first-round picks for big men PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford in separate trades earlier that day.
Washington and Gafford debuted against the Oklahoma City Thunder as the Mavericks returned to Dallas on February 10, combining for 33 points and 14 rebounds in a 146-111 win. The pair have been excellent additions to the team’s depth with gritty defense and an inane ability to do the little things well.
“We have a lot of guys that are very good, and everybody’s on the same page,” Washington told the media after Thursday’s win. “The main goal is for us just to win games, and you can tell, coming out and playing, everybody’s for each other, everybody has the right mindset, and everybody’s locked in. When you get that, you get wins. We’ve just got to keep it going.”
Dallas followed that with wins over the lowly Washington Wizards and San Antonio Spurs before heading to the All-Star break and carried momentum into Thursday’s big win.
“Obviously, we have a bigger goal in mind, so it’s on to the next game and just keep going from there,” Washington said. “Just win-by-win and just keep stacking.”
The Mavericks (33-23) sit just a game behind the New Orleans Pelicans (34-22) for the five-seed in the Western Conference with 26 games remaining in the regular season and will look to continue their winning streak on the road against the Indiana Pacers (32-25) at 4 p.m. CT on Sunday.
Dallas has not won eight games in a row since 2011.