The start of the match is very complicated for Dallas, completely dominated by the ardor of Brooklyn. Jason Kidd must very quickly take out JaVale McGee (who we will never see again…) and the Nets even take a 14-point lead (11-25) on a 3-pointer from Royce O’Neale, the Mavericks attack being summed up to baskets from Luka Doncic.
The Slovenian finds support off the bench and the match is balanced, Dallas pointing ahead (53-50) at halftime.
It is in the fourth quarter that the meeting will finally switch. The Nets can no longer achieve anything while Luka Doncic, well helped by Josh Green, torpedoes the defense of Brooklyn. The “franchise player” still exceeds 30 points but don’t forget to find his shooters, and that’s the gap that goes to +11 (91-80) for Dallas.
It seems folded for the Nets, but Royce O’Neale, Joe Harris and Cam Thomas chain the 3-pointers to bring their team to a small point. Dallas first fouls before Kevin Durant’s 3-point shot to prevent him from equalizing, but Reggie Bullock misses the next shot, and KD has three shots to snatch overtime. Problem: he misses the second and must therefore miss the third to hope for an offensive rebound.
Royce O’Neale recovers the leather well, but he does not dare to shoot and Dallas finally avoids the hold-up (96-94) by just…
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER
– Luka Doncic dropped by the other Texan starters. At halftime, the Slovenian had scored 23 points out of 28 for Dallas starters. Dorian Finney-Smith had scored the other five points, while Spencer Dinwiddie, Reggie Bullock and JaVale McGee were “Fanny”. Jason Kidd had to find solutions on his bench, while his pivot, in difficulty since the start of the season, finally only played three short minutes…
– A completely crazy end to the match. Brooklyn had lost the lead early in the fourth quarter, and Dallas seemed to have taken the brunt of it. But the Mavericks let go mentally in the face of the Nets’ energy of desperation. Fortunately Kevin Durant misses his throw, otherwise it could have been much more serious.
– A return still complicated for Ben Simmons. Off the bench, the Australian was used as a pivot in sequences by Jacque Vaughn. But above all, he showed that he was clearly not at his best physically. He was also constantly targeted by Luka Doncic, who attacked him because the former contender for the title of best defender could not stay between him and the circle. Like this humiliating sequence where Ben Simmons had to kneel down in front of the dribbling of the Texan matador.
TOPS/FLOPS
✅ Luka Doncic. This is the 9th game in a row with more than 30 points for the Slovenian, still in the footsteps of Wilt Chamberlain, and whom no defense can stop. On the other hand, he seems less invested defensively than last year, but it is undoubtedly linked to the enormous load he has to carry at the start of the season.
✅ Josh Green. Overall, we could cite almost the entire Dallas bench, but the Australian was the symbol of the change in mentality, and intensity between the holders and the substitutes. Well placed, aggressive, he put oil in the machine and finished with 16 points and 5 rebounds.
✅ Nic Claxton. Without Kyrie Irving, still suspended, the Nets have less talent but the “role players” have heart, like a Nic Claxton who fought (10 points, 14 rebounds) under the circle.
⛔ Reggie Bullock and Spencer Dinwiddie. Not to mention JaVale McGee, whom Jason Kidd took out after a disastrous three minutes, but the other two starters also suffered, compiling an awful 1/13 on shot. Spencer Dinwiddie still managed to weigh in on other areas of the game.
THE FOLLOWING
Dallas (6-3): the Mavericks will try to follow up against the Magic on Wednesday night (01:00)
Brooklyn (4-7): the Nets go to Madison Square Garden to challenge the Knicks on Wednesday night (1:30 a.m.)
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