The Dallas Mavericks won their first game the season, walking away from their first home performance with a 120-102 win over the Utah Jazz, led by Dirk Nowitzki and Chandler Parsons, teaming up to create what might turn out to be the most fun to watch offense in the NBA.
Nowitzki and Parsons each scored 21 points as the Mavericks looked very good on their home debut, hitting 55.3% of their shots with seven players scoring in double figures. The Jazz had their entire lineup scoring in double figures, but their bench isn’t up to par, and makes it difficult for them to stay in games against fast paced and high scoring teams.
The most pleasing performance for the Mavericks was probably from Al-Faruq Aminou. They know what they’re getting from Nowitzki, Monta Ellis and eventually Parsons, who’ll get used to this team quickly. But the bench is a different story, not always too reliable when it comes to scoring points at a good enough ratio. Aminu had 16 points and 10 rebounds, but Brandan Wright scored 14 points and Devin Harris added 12.
Monta Ellis scored 14 points and Tyson Chandler had 13 with 6 rebounds, as the only weak link in the lineup for the Mavericks was Jameer Nelson. Nelson needs to get used to having other ball dominant players next to him, like Ellis, Parsons and Nowitzki. For now, it’s working out fine, but he’ll probably be required to do better in the next few games and later down the season for the Mavericks to be more than a low seeded team in the playoff, if at all.
The Jazz got 17 points from Derrick Favors, 16 each from Gordon Hayward and Trey Burke. Enough? Not even close, and although this is a season that’s about rebuilding, the Jazz, without any injuries holding them back unlike the beginning of last season, need to start getting more from their bench, hoping to see an improved Dante Exum (2 points in 19 minutes) very soon.
When the championship team of 2011 was broken up slowly, Mark Cuban talked about a multi year plan to make things easier eventually for Dirk Nowitzki and build himself a championship team. Last season they went back to the playoffs after missing one year, and were the most difficult interruption that stood in the way of the Spurs, eventually winning the NBA championship. This season, with some tweaks and possible upgrades, they’re expecting a lot more.
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