Mavericks fans can breathe a sigh of relief after seeing their team pull off a narrow 103-101 win over the injured-ridden Los Angeles Clippers in Dallas on Tuesday night. The player in the game is Reggie Bullock who did his best when his team needed it most. Brock made four of his 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, allowing the Mavericks to hold off the Clippers and avoid a disastrous loss for a team desperate to get back on track. .
Starters started hot and set the tone early. Luka Doncic worked his way up in the paint and continued to give Ivica Zubak the blues. Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian his finney his Smith igniting fire from deep inside, allowing the Mavericks to go into halftime with his 54–32 lead.
And then came the third quarter. While the Mavericks struggled to get the ball into the basket, the Clippers were able to produce open look after look. The benches outside Christian Wood were terrible. Tim Hardaway Jr. finished the game with zero points thanks to a 0-for-7 night from the field, Maxi Kleber played his potatoes hot in his 10 minutes and made sure to shoot the ball. I refused outright. Josh Green was off the field in 14 minutes when he finished 0-1 but managed to fill all three of his rings on the Apple Watch. Against most teams, this kind of performance off the bench wasn’t successful, and without Brock it would have cost the Mavericks this game.
high dispersion
Statistics may be another story, but no team in the NBA seems to have given up a double-digit lead in as short a time as the Dallas Mavericks. Last season they relied on their defense and continued a game in which they struggled to shoot the ball. A prolonged shooting slump has proven disastrous this season. This puts a lot of strain on Luca and makes players like Christian Wood and Spencer Dinwiddie invaluable because of the safety of a solid defence. It’s impossible to know what you’re going to fight against. The defeat of magic and wizards is no exception. Instead, they’re evidence of how the team’s defense fell back.
Phinney Smith and Bullock are back!
Dorian Finney-Smith posted 20 points for the first time all season. Phinney Smith is often seen as the weakest perimeter shooter on the team, and has often paid the price on defense during the 2021-2022 season. However, this year has been a bit of a struggle. His 32% success rate from deep is well below his career average and a step back from last year’s levels. Hopefully we’ll see some positive regressions as the season progresses and we’ll see performances like tonight’s, Phinney Smith’s seven career highs against the Clippers. I made a successful 3-pointer.
Now, let’s talk to the elephant in the room. Brock hits a three-point shot. Again, Reggie Bullock hit his shot for his 3-pointer. This is not a drill. In fact, he had his four hits in the fourth quarter, and the Mavs desperately needed each in an exciting finish. Brock’s shooting struggles have been talked about for most of the season, but few find his struggles that amazing. He has had a similar start to last year’s season, and his shooting split in his career could be downright terrifying to start the season. He usually starts his shooting in December and races from January.
So no one could have predicted tonight’s performance. He was scoreless in his first three quarters, but he came out when the team needed him most. As relieved as Mavericks fans were, no one was happier to see these shots go down than Brock himself. If we can convince him, we may get to see more of him from the second half of last season all the way to the playoffs.
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