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The Mavericks saved by their bench | NBA

If the Mavericks managed to secure a third consecutive victory last night, they were initially dominated by the head and shoulders by the Spurs. In the first quarter, the men of Gregg Popovich thus started with a bang, already leading by 20 points (25-5) after seven minutes!

« It was a bad start, we were playing with no energy “, Regretted Luka Doncic, author of 4 points (2/5 on shots) and 3 ball losses in the first twelve minutes of the game. ” Everyone was soft, me first. It must not happen again. »

It was then necessary to wait for the arrival of the replacements to see this amorphous Dallas finally get his head out of the water, in front of his audience. Starting with that of the 6th Texan man, Jalen Brunson (19 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists).

« I wanted to change the tide of the game somehow and turn things in our favor “Said the leader, who was 13 points at halftime. ” With a few players [du banc], we went in and we tried to pick up the pace, to make the game a little more physical in defense and to disrupt them. »

And Maxi Kleber (12 points, 10 rebounds, 6 blocks), also used off the bench, to support the words of his teammate.

« When [Jalen Brunson] and I came in, we wanted to speed up the tempo, communicate more and be fair in defense, because we already had good open shots in attack. Except we don’t convert them. And we cannot let our attack condition our defense. So it was all about playing hard defensively, no matter what was going on offensively. »

Jalen Brunson and Maxi Kleber play duty firefighters

In five minutes, the “second unit” of the Mavs first dropped the score from 25-5 to 25-15, still in favor of San Antonio. Then, in the second quarter, she did not stop there, starting the period on a 15-4, to give the advantage to Jason Kidd’s men, to say the least stunning!

« I obviously didn’t think we were going to start so badly, but it can happen in this league “, Explained the coach of Dallas afterwards. ” It’s a team victory, but it’s really the bench that gave us the energy we needed, they were more dynamic than our holders. Then we finally got into our game. »

« They won us the match “, Even estimated Luka Doncic, author of 18 of his 25 points after the break. ” They were amazing, just like [Jalen Brunson] and Maxi [Kleber], but I want to give credit to the whole bench. They put us back in the game and were huge for us. »

From that moment, the meeting was balanced and the Mavericks, deprived of Kristaps Porzingis, began to play their basketball, under the leadership of Jalen Brunson and Maxi Kleber.

But it is indeed this impressive “run” of 31-7, straddling the first and second quarters, which launched Jason Kidd’s players to new success. And it was first and foremost built in defense.

« In this locker room, we are mostly talking about defensive ‘runs’, rather than offensive ‘runs’ “, Admitted the Texan coach. ” I believe that, [hier] evening, we maintained [les Spurs] without the slightest basket for six minutes and that will certainly help us when we do not return our shots. »

Frank Ntilikina also showed up

Among the influential Mavs players coming off the bench, there was also Frank Ntilikina. In 14 minutes, the Frenchman has compiled 6 points and 4 rebounds (2/4 to 3-points), posting as a bonus the best +/- of the game: +24! Proof of his positive contribution when he was present on the floor, like Jalen Brunson, Maxi Kleber and Willie Cauley-Stein.

« Frank [Ntilikina] was great too “, Also confided Jason Kidd, who reduced his rotation to 9 players last night, after having used 15 against the Rockets, Tuesday night. ” He responded when I called on him, when we were in the rough. »

Bodes well for Frank Ntilikina, who can hope to grab new minutes with the Mavericks tonight, for this “back-to-back” planned for the Nuggets.

A trip that promises to be perilous, even if Nikola Jokic is not sure to play on the side of Denver.

« It will be complicated, but we will have to do the same [qu’hier soir], playing hard and with a lot of energy Maxi Kleber warned. ” There will be times when we have to fight but, even if our shots don’t fall in, we have talent and we have shown that we can be good in defense. And if we continue to do it consistently, we won’t have to worry about our success on shots. »

TirsRebounds
PlayersMJMinTirs3ptsLFOffDefUntilPdBpIntCtFtePts
Luka Doncic336.240.921.785.70.710.711.38.74.71.00.72.323.7
Tim Hardaway Jr.332.251.445.875.00.71.72.30.70.31.30.02.018.3
Kristaps Porzingis325.830.223.572.71.74.36.00.71.70.72.02.012.7
Jalen Brunson325.643.345.5100.01.03.34.36.01.00.70.02.711.0
Boban Marjanovic19.1100.00.050.02.02.04.01.00.00.00.01.011.0
Dorian Finney-smith332.332.114.3100.04.03.37.31.71.01.01.03.07.3
Dwight Powell323.253.80.072.71.32.03.31.30.71.30.73.77.3
Reggie Bullock316.538.935.750.00.32.32.70.30.30.00.01.06.7
Maxi Kleber317.938.545.5100.01.04.05.00.01.00.70.02.05.7
Moses Brown13.1100.00.050.00.00.00.00.00.00.02.00.03.0
Trey Burke26.550.050.00.00.00.50.51.50.50.00.00.02.5
Frank Ntilikina23.833.30.00.00.00.50.51.00.50.00.51.51.0
Josh Green23.950.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.51.0
Sterling Brown39.710.011.10.00.72.33.00.31.00.00.01.31.0
Willie Cauley-stein37.125.00.00.00.32.32.70.00.30.70.00.00.7

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