The Dallas Mavericks (39-42) beat up on the injury-riddled Toronto Raptors (30-51), who could barely field an NBA team, 124-102, on Friday at American Airlines Center.
This game turned ugly in a hurry, as the entire second half was rendered meaningless by the Mavericks’ 33-13 outburst in the second quarter. Dallas coasted to the win in guard Dante Exum’s return to the lineup after he missed the last 12 games with a broken hand.
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Here are three stats from the Mavs’ latest lopsided win.
5-of-5: Ochai Ogbaji 3-point shooting in game’s first 8:30
Third-year role player Ochai Agbaji, of all people, was on one to start the game for the Raptors. He nailed four straight 3-pointers and accounted for Toronto’s first 12 points of the night in the game’s first 5:58. Then Jonathan Mogbo found Agbaji open once again a little more than two minutes later for his fifth 3-point make of the quarter with 3:30 showing on the clock to cut the Mavs’ lead to 22-21.
Agbaji’s fifth 3-pointer was sandwiched in between two driving buckets from Anthony Davis inside, the second of which gave Dallas a 24-21 advantage. Agbaji responded with a tip-in the next time down to go 6-of-6 from the field in the first quarter and keep the Raptors within striking distance. He scored a game-high 17 points in the first as Dallas got out to a 35-25 lead after one.
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Cormac Karl “Max” Christie hit a couple of late 3-pointers, and newly signed backup guard Brandon Williams hit one of his own for Dallas to give the Mavs a double-digit advantage at the end of the first. The two teams combined to shoot 10-of-21 (47.6%) from deep in the opener.
1-for-13: Raptors’ FG shooting to open second quarter
The Mavericks extended their lead to 10 in the final two minutes of the first quarter via the long ball, then extended their lead to north of 20 points early in the second quarter by clamping down defensively. Dallas held Toronto to 1-of-13 shooting in the first six-plus minutes of the second to key a 23-2 run that saw the Mavs go up 58-29 on Christie’s driving dunk along the baseline with 5:19 left before halftime.
The jam gave Christie 12 points off the bench to go along with four rebounds. PJ Washington also scored on three straight possessions as part of what turned out to be the game’s decisive 23-2 run. Dallas ran and hid to end the half, taking a 66-38 lead into the break.
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The Raptors, who dressed the minimum eight players and played only seven of them due to extensive injury concerns throughout the roster, missed their next 15 attempts from 3-point range after Agbaji’s five consecutive makes to start the game.
6: Anthony Davis first-half blocked shots
The Mavericks blocked eight Raptors’ shot attempts in the first half, and six of those blocks belonged to a suddenly alert and active Anthony Davis. Davis looked much more engaged against an inferior opponent on Friday than he did against his former team on Wednesday. Maybe he’s starting to round into form in his ninth game back in action following that adductor injury he suffered in his first game with the Mavericks back in February. Or maybe he’s made a career of eating up inferior opponents and struggling a little more against better competition.
Davis’ 12 points, seven boards, seven assists and six blocks opened up the possibility of the fabled quadruple-double in the second half. He picked up his seventh blocked shot just 29 seconds into the third quarter. The quad was never in the cards, but Davis completed his triple-double (23 points, 13 rebounds, 10 assists) early in the fourth with a lob assist to Dereck Lively II. The win over lowly Toronto was Davis’ fourth career triple-double.
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