The Dallas Mavericks defeated the Los Angeles Cippers in their second preseason game. The Mavericks ended up winning 122-114, but more importantly they were ahead 60-56 at the end of the first half. The second half was essentially a junior varsity scrimmage as neither team played their best players.
Kristaps Porzingis continued to move well defensively and Luka Doncic continued to show just how insanely easy basketball is for him. The way players look is much more important than any numbers in a preseason game but here are the numbers you need to know from this game.
29: The number of combined points from Porzingis and Luka
One of the consistent themes of the Luka/Porzingis pairing has been that they struggle to excel at the same time. Each has gone supernova individually, but the flashes of combined greatness have been limited. Porzingis had 19 minutes and Luka had 18 minutes. In those minutes Luka had 14 points and Porzingis has 15.
This is a much more positive development than Luka scoring a bunch while Porzingis struggles or Porzingis going off while Luka focuses on distributing. Numbers in preseason games do not matter, but this is a good sign.
4: The number of assists both Porzingis and Tim Hardaway Jr. had
The Mavericks play better when Porzingis passes more. They were 6-0 with an average margin of victory of 18 points per game in games Porzingis had 4 assists last season. He had four in the first half tonight and the Mavericks were ahead when he left the game. The Mavericks did not acquire a secondary playmaker to pair with Doncic this offseason, so the the team is going to have to get a little help from everyone in this regard. This was a good start.
33, 14, 14: Luka’s points, rebounds and assists totals through 2 preseason games.
One of the only concerns regarding Luka was would he come into the season in shape. It is safe to say that he is. He has been absolutely dominating in the limited minutes that stars play in the regular season.
19: Eugene Omoruyi’s points
As mentioned preseason stats should be taken with a grain of salt. However, Omoruyi played extremely well and he should be well on his way to making the team.
7: Number of free throw attempts for Porzingis
Porzingis has seen a precipitous decline in his free throw attempts in Dallas due to the less aggressive nature of his game here. Getting to the line more would be a really nice development for Porzingis and the team.
Here’s our postgame podcast, with Josh and Kirk Matt Phillips doing a brief recap of the game. If you can’t see the embed below, click here. Or go to your favorite podcast app and search Mavs Moneyball podcast.
