Mavs Game Observations: Game 18 @ Hawks
An ode to Kyrie Irving (with a side of praise for Jason Kidd)
Sometimes you have to win ugly. And once you do, those wins suddenly look beautiful.
In a game where both teams largely opted out of playing defense, the Dallas Mavericks outgunned the Atlanta Hawks 129-119 in an up-and-down shootout.
The Mavericks squeezed every ounce of energy out of a team that seemed to be running on fumes, playing on the second night of a back-to-back while dealing with a team-wide illness bug. Quentin Grimes (illness) and Klay Thompson were two new additions to the injury list alongside Luka Dončić. Dereck Lively II also missed the second half after feeling under the weather.
Despite these challenges, the Mavericks played their fastest-paced game of the season, even pushing the throttle at the end when it mattered most. Once again, Kyrie Irving, who played all but two seconds of the second half and totaled 41 minutes for the game, went on an incredible fourth-quarter run, willing the Mavericks to avoid leaving their short East trip empty-handed.
Today’s notes:
Kyrie Irving the leader, the closer, the highlight reel (🎞️VIDEO)
Lack of secondary ball-handlers? How about three!
Jason Kidd props I: Going all-in on offense and run and gun
Jason Kidd props I: Turning the game around with zone
More tweaks with P.J. Washington and Maxi Kleber lineups
1-Kyrie Irving the leader, the closer, the highlight reel (🎞️VIDEO)
After watching them so many times, I still don’t know how Kyrie Irving’s fourth-quarter explosions manage to amaze and surprise me. The same script played out once again: after a quiet game, a fourth-quarter avalanche came out of nowhere. Irving, who had struggled for three quarters against Dyson Daniels’ length and activity—shooting just 5-of-20 with three turnovers—needed only three minutes in the final period to flip the script and essentially win the game for Dallas.
The play-by-play from those three minutes in the fourth is wild: Irving made five consecutive shots, four of them from three, racking up an express 14 points.
The other remarkable aspect of Irving’s game is his leadership—his patience in waiting for his moment and his willingness to take a back seat, allowing his teammates to handle the ball and shine early on.
2-Lack of secondary ball-handlers? How about three!
In prior seasons, and earlier this season, the question of who would step into the ball-handling role when either Dončić or Irving was absent was always a concern. With Dante Exum injured, and Spencer Dinwiddie and Jaden Hardy struggling to impress early in the season, the questions were legitimate. Then Naji Marshall unexpectedly stepped into the role, relieving some of the pressure on the other two guards.
Last night, Marshall, Hardy, and Dinwiddie each scored 20+ points, taking turns attacking gaps and targeting Trae Young, while Daniels and the Hawks’ defense focused on Irving.
Marshall has become such a stabilizing force with Dončić out, filling not only the ball-handling role but also scoring gaps by putting up 20 or more points in each of the last three games. As his game-high 33% usage rate attests, Hardy was the primary on-ball creator for much of the game until Irving took over. That role gave him the confidence and reps to remain aggressive in attacking the paint and scoring. Hardy finished with 23 points on 18 shots and 6 turnovers—not exactly optimal, but not detrimental in this game. His defensive awareness remains an issue, although he did show effort with three steals. Dinwiddie had a strong bounce-back performance after his 1-of-12 outing in Miami, where his clutch presence raised eyebrows regarding Kidd’s long leash and trust in the 31-year-old veteran. Dinwiddie’s three consecutive made threes in the third quarter were instrumental in keeping the Mavericks within reach after a poor start to the second half.
3-Jason Kidd props I: Going all-in on offense and run and gun
I, among others, have often been critical of Kidd’s preference for guard-heavy lineups, as they leave the Mavericks exposed on defense and offer little perimeter pressure.
Last night, he went all-in, channeling his mentor Rick Carlisle with that approach. On a night when both teams struggled to provide any resistance on the perimeter, Kidd chose to outgun and outrun the Hawks rather than trying to stop them. Some of it was out of necessity, with Grimes, Thompson, and Lively unavailable. But most of it was by choice—like giving Hardy and Dinwiddie 30+ minutes, or even playing Jazian Gortman in the second half over bigger options such as Olivier-Maxence Prosper, Kessler Edwards, and Dwight Powell.
By going small, the Mavericks pushed the pace and exposed the Hawks’ terrible transition defense. Dallas outscored Atlanta 21-10 in fast-break points, but even more impressive was the strategy and energy required to play their fastest-paced game of the season on the second night of a back-to-back.
How fast was this game? Last night’s pace of 112.5 possessions per 48 minutes was more than five possessions faster than the Mavericks’ previous fastest game against the Bulls. The Mavericks have been punishing poor transition defenses all season, and once again, that strategy proved to be a winning formula last night.
4-Jason Kidd props I: Turning the game around with zone
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