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00:00 How's it going y'all?
00:02 It's Dalton Trigg.
00:03 I'm the editor in chief at DallasBasketball.com.
00:05 I'm joined by my colleague at DallasBasketball.com,
00:09 Grant Afseth.
00:10 We are joining you immediately following
00:15 the Dallas Mavericks 144 to 126 win
00:19 over the Los Angeles Clippers.
00:21 It was their second in-season tournament game.
00:24 The first one they lost to the Denver Nuggets on the road.
00:27 This one was at home.
00:29 They dominated.
00:30 Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic combined for 71 points.
00:35 Luka had 44 points on a very efficient
00:39 17 of 21 shooting from the field.
00:42 It was his 31st 40 point performance of his career
00:47 joining LeBron James and Michael Jordan
00:52 as the only players to have that many
00:54 of 40 point performances before turning 25 years old.
00:58 So a special night at American Airlines Center.
01:01 Grant, what were some of your biggest takeaways
01:04 from this one?
01:05 - Yeah, I thought it was just very impressive
01:07 how they fought back after falling down 8-0 initially
01:10 and then also being down 31 to 19.
01:13 That incredible, I forgot the exact numbers on the run
01:16 that they had, but that was incredible.
01:18 Like late first quarter, you know,
01:22 most of the second quarter, you know,
01:24 I thought I got kicked off with Kyrie Irving
01:27 really finding his form, having a like eight consecutive
01:30 point little run himself on three straight plays.
01:33 And, you know, that's exactly the type of, like,
01:36 I guess you could say the idea when you have two superstars
01:39 is, you know, one can get you going
01:41 and then the other one comes back into the game
01:44 and the momentum really just, you know,
01:46 snowballs or amplifies.
01:48 So, you know, I thought that was just a really interesting,
01:50 you know, way of building momentum for sure.
01:52 - Well, the Mavs are seven and two to start this season.
01:56 They couldn't have asked for a better start, you know,
01:58 given the circumstances, obviously the loss
02:01 to the Toronto Raptors was disappointing,
02:03 but that one was the third game in four nights
02:07 and they were going up against a very good defensive team.
02:09 So that one's understandable.
02:11 Playing in Denver against the defending champs
02:14 on the road in the high altitude, that one's understandable
02:18 and they were competitive in that one late.
02:20 So overall, it's a good start for the Mavs here.
02:23 And now they go on a four game road trip
02:26 starting in New Orleans on Sunday night.
02:29 We'll both be there for those.
02:31 The second one will be on Tuesday.
02:33 What are you looking for from Mavs
02:35 to start this road trip in New Orleans?
02:38 - Yeah, I think it might be a very like common sense
02:42 sort of answer to say like how they handle Zion Williamson
02:45 in those first two games,
02:47 but I'll give a little more detail about
02:49 what like nuance in that one.
02:51 I think in some of their losses,
02:53 they played some really like just,
02:54 like as you can say, like power players,
02:56 like at the three and the four,
02:58 like Michael Porter Jr., Aaron Gordon
03:00 have a lot of size on the wing
03:02 that gave them problems against the Nuggets.
03:04 And then against the Raptors, Scotty Barnes,
03:06 Pascal Siakam, OG Adidobe,
03:09 those are bigger wings that pose problems as well.
03:12 And just seeing how they handle like the ultimate,
03:15 I guess you could say power,
03:17 like perimeter player with Zion
03:18 will be a very fascinating thing.
03:20 Derek Lively being available after returning tonight
03:25 from his one game absence due to illness
03:27 will be a big factor in that one with room protection.
03:30 And just continuing to see how they respond
03:32 after they were called soft,
03:34 allowing 72 points of the paint against the Raptors,
03:38 managing to continue that momentum
03:41 will be a very interesting thing to monitor.
03:45 And a sign of a team that takes criticism well
03:49 and can actually turn it into legitimate identity.
03:53 And that goes a long way through 82 games
03:56 when you're trying to really maximize seeding for yourself
04:00 in the Western Conference.
04:01 After last season when not winning games
04:05 on second night of back-to-backs really added up
04:07 when Lucas sat.
04:08 And then when injuries started to like really add up
04:12 after the All-Star break,
04:13 they didn't have that headstart, if you will,
04:16 to be able to insulate themselves
04:18 from adversity hitting down the stretch run.
04:20 So that's why you wanna get off to that strong start.
04:23 As Kyrie Irving likes to say,
04:25 peaking at the right time in a lot of his recent comments,
04:29 that's exactly what the team and himself
04:31 are definitely gonna be looking to do.
04:32 And that starts with handling the Pelicans
04:36 two out of four games on that upcoming road trip.
04:39 - Well, they're off to a good start.
04:40 They're currently second in the West,
04:42 only behind the Nuggets,
04:44 one of the two teams they've lost to.
04:46 The Pelicans, they're only four and five this year.
04:49 The Mavs, they're seven and two
04:51 and they have good balance.
04:52 They're four and one at home.
04:53 They're three and one on the road.
04:55 So I'm looking forward to some good performances
04:58 from the Mavs on the road in New Orleans.
05:01 And we'll see if they can tack on a couple more wins
05:03 to start this season.
05:04 But it's looking good so far
05:06 and we'll see if they can carry over this momentum
05:08 on this four-game road trip.