‘An A-Minus, B-Plus’: Dusty May Grades Dallas Mavericks’ Scouting Report Discipline After Holding Brooklyn Nets To 93
DALLAS — The Brooklyn Nets never led Sunday night, and the Dallas Mavericks held them to 93 points on 38.8% shooting in a 130-93 win at American Airlines Center. Brooklyn went 11-of-39 from three-point range.
The Nets came in averaging 108.2 points and making 14.1 3-pointers per game on 35.1% shooting. They were playing for the second straight night after a 124-121 loss at Atlanta on Saturday.
Because Dallas switches so often, Mavericks coach Dusty May said, every player has to know the tendencies of basically the entire opposing roster.
“Our scouting report. I thought we probably had graded it an A-minus, B-plus on our scouting report discipline,” May said. “We knew the tendencies, and when you switch as much as we do, it’s easier said than done to know the tendencies, because you need to know them for basically the entire roster, because you’ll be switched on anyone at any time.”
“I thought tonight we had good discipline,” May continued. “I thought we were active. I thought our hand activity and communication was as good as it’s been. And like I said, those things have to be constant. Whether you’re making shots, you’re missing shots, those are the things we’ve been able to hang our hat on.”
Michael Porter Jr. Starts Hot Before Brooklyn Nets Go Cold
Michael Porter Jr. knocked down three 3-pointers in the last three minutes of the opening quarter and had 15 points by the end of it. He made 1 of his 9 shots the rest of the night and finished with 19 points and 9 rebounds.
May said before the game that the plan was to challenge every touch Brooklyn’s shooters got and keep them from seeing the ball go in early. Porter entered averaging 21.8 points and shooting 37.3% from three-point range.
Julius Randle, Brooklyn’s other top scorer at 20.8 points per game, finished with 13 on 5-of-10 shooting and a minus-33. Randle, who grew up in the Dallas area, had averaged 23.5 points in his previous games back home.
Between them, Porter and Randle shot 10-of-25. Daniel Gafford said the Mavericks went in expecting the Nets’ top two scorers to look for every shot they could get.
“I mean, we was just pretty much just piggybacking off of just the beginning,” Gafford said. “We paid attention to detail, stuck to the game plan. We know the main two guys were gonna come out and try to get every shot off, and we just tried to really just disrupt a lot of stuff and just cause a lot of discomfort when it came to their offense. And I think that’s what we did for sure, 100%.”
Morez Johnson Jr. On The Dallas Mavericks’ Switching Defense
Morez Johnson Jr. pulled down 9 rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench, 7 of them defensive. The rookie said the Mavericks have the versatility to switch one through five.
“I think it showed when we lock in defensively, we can be a very good defensive team,” Johnson said. “We got some versatility on the defensive end, switching one through five with different lineups.”
Brooklyn committed 17 turnovers, and Dallas scored 24 points off them. The Mavericks blocked 4 shots, 3 of them by Gafford, and outrebounded the Nets 46-30.
Opponents entered Sunday 102-of-330 from three-point range against Dallas, a 30.9% mark, though May said before the game that it is probably too early to trust that number.
The Mavericks made 20 of their 22 free throws and turned the ball over 21 times. Some nights, May said, the ball will not drop.
“Obviously, if we shoot the ball like that with the way we’re defending now, we’re gonna have a chance to win each and every night,” May explained. “But some nights the ball’s not gonna drop. We made our free throws. We got to the line. We still have some work to do as far as not turning the ball over when you’re shooting like we are. If we manage to clean up some of those turnovers, I think we still have a jump to make.”
Brooklyn (2-8) visits New Orleans on Wednesday. Dallas (6-4) hosts the Indiana Pacers on Monday at 7 p.m. CT.
