After so much hysteria surrounded Luka Doncic playing his first game against the Mavericks in Los Angeles Tuesday night, Thursday was bound to be a bit of a letdown. P.J. Washington firing jumpers against his former Charlotte Hornets mates (and not for the first time) doesn’t have quite the same cache.
Then, this being the Mavericks, it was announced before the game that Washington wasn’t playing anyway because of an ankle injury. You could have thought this left Dallas without any size at all since the club’s top three centers are out for various but significant lengths of time. But who knew 7-2 Moses Brown was about to go crazy in his third game here?
Brown, who has made the unlikely five-year journey from Portland to Oklahoma City to Dallas to Cleveland to the Clippers to Brooklyn to Portland to Indiana to Dallas (with some G League work along the way), made his first double-double with his new club count. Brown finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds as the Mavericks sweated their way through a 103-96 win over the awful visitors.
Related:New Mavs arena? Irving City Council takes first step in potential swoop for Dallas team
Be the smartest Mavericks fan. Get the latest news.
Is it fair for me just to call the Hornets “awful?” Do they really deserve that sort of treatment?
Well, they came to Dallas having made NBA history by losing three straight games by 35 or more points. In a couple of cases, they would have loved to limit the deficit to 35. Charlotte lost to Portland by 53, Sacramento by 42 and Golden State by 36.
If you’re thinking what I’m thinking, the answer is yes … it’s really hard to lose to Portland by 53.
Having said all that, the Hornets’ last stop on this history-making trip through the Western Conference (it actually began with a three-point win at the Lakers and then a 14-point loss to Denver before the wheels shot off) had them listed as only a 12-point underdog to Dallas. It’s what happens when your top centers hit the injured list alongside Washington and the mysterious Caleb Martin, the unheralded part of Nico’s trade whirlwind that reshaped the Mavericks into something older and infirm.
Dallas got the victory, but this one was stressful to the end, a three-point game with two minutes to play.
“I thought [Brown] gave us a spark as a big at the rim,” head coach Jason Kidd said. “I through he was great and, offensively, his putbacks were big for us.”
The Hornets got some early inspiration from a Josh Green tribute video (speaking of former Mavs facing their old team) and kept the game within a single point (50-49) at halftime. They did this by doing what everyone has done against Dallas — win or lose — and that’s crushing them on the boards. The Mavericks came into the contest having been beaten on the boards in eight straight games by an average of nine rebounds, and at halftime Charlotte had a 31-23 rebounding edge.
The Hornets maintained that advantage to the bitter end (56-48), but Dallas eventually put away the visitors with significant edges in steals (12-3) and turnovers created (15-7). That’s how Kidd’s undersized team has held its ground the last month, winning the battles in quickness and floor burns while trying to survive onslaughts of offensive rebounding.
Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (11) watches his shot against Charlotte Hornets guard Josh Green (10) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero)(LM Otero / AP)
Kyrie Irving continued his new assignment of carrying this team (25 points, nine rebounds, five assists) and Klay Thompson found enough open floor to chip in with 18 points. It was all Dallas could do from getting killed in the paint as Hornets center Mark Williams — the player the Lakers traded for after dealing Anthony Davis but sent back after flunking him on a physical — finished with 26 points and 16 rebounds.
Remind me not to take the Lakers’ physical.
With the victory, the Mavs are 32-28 with 22 games to play (12 of them on the road). Sounds pretty pedestrian for a team that went to the NBA Finals in June, but it should be remembered that last year’s team was only 34-28 after 62 games. The important thing that club managed to do (other than keeping Luka) was to finish fifth and avoid the play-in circus.
Dallas remains in that 7-to-10-seed play-in mix, and it’s looking more and more like five teams (LA Clippers, Golden State, Minnesota, Dallas, Sacramento) competing for the 6 spot that at least gets someone a first-round best-of-seven series with the 3-seed. The other four — incredibly close in the standings and not likely to achieve a great deal of separation between now and mid-April — will have to fight the eliminating process the play-in brings.
When Dallas escapes with a seven-point home court win against a team that set a new standard for obliteration on its West Coast swing, it’s a reminder that none of this is going to be easy. Two years ago Dallas was fined for tanking rather than pushing harder to compete in the play-in games. This season, with all that has transpired and the roster that Kidd has left, the play-in looks more and more like the Mavericks’ ultimate goal.
Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
