Almost exactly one week from the moment the NBA got shaken up by the most shocking trade in league history, Anthony Davis made his debut in a Dallas Mavericks uniform. The 10-time All-Star had missed the last two weeks with an abdominal injury, but prior to that he had been enjoying one of the best seasons of his career in Los Angeles, averaging 25.7 points, 11.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 2.1 blocks per game.
He arrived in Dallas with perhaps unfair pressure, as the Mavs had traded away their 25-year-old superstar to acquire him, Max Christie, and just one first round pick. For the trade not to be considered a complete catastrophe, the Mavs need to win at least one championship with the 31-year-old big man (and even then some Mavs fans will still not believe it to be enough return). Over the last week there have been countless words written about the trade and most of them have focused on what the Mavs got wrong. Right here I wrote about how the Mavs new front office and ownership betrayed the identity the franchise had spent so long building with the trade, and how they created an almost impossible situation for themselves in shortening their runway building around two stars in their early-30s and needing to deliver a title right now.
In all of those pieces, Davis has been something of an afterthought. There’s been acknowledgement of his skills and that he will likely allow Dallas to remain competitive, but no one has quite bought in to Nico Harrison’s insistence they were building a real title contender around his (and the team’s) defensive ceiling. On Saturday afternoon against the Rockets, the proof of concept for the Mavericks’ vision was on display, particularly in the first half when a highly motivated Dallas squad ran roughshod through the usually stingy Rockets defense, with Davis himself putting up outrageous numbers with 24 points, 13 rebounds, five assists, and three blocks in the first 24 minutes.
The first play of the game saw Davis, now playing his preferred position of power forward, get a post touch and immediately throw a lob out of a double team to center Daniel Gafford. In the first 24 minutes of play, he terrorized the Rockets inside and out, hitting threes, muscling through defenders, and locking down on defense both in the post and on the perimeter. Davis led the team with 26 points, 16 rebounds, seven assists, and three blocks in his 31 minutes of work (before leaving late in the third with an injury), putting his full skillset on display. Christie added 23 points off the bench in 33 minutes, proving his value as a 3-and-D wing that can give Jason Kidd another option in the rotation and log major minutes. The two new additions made quite the opening statement in what figures to be an uphill battle to gaining a full embrace from the Mavericks faithful.
To the fans’ credit, they were not there to boo Davis or Christie (who had a spectacular game himself) and erupted over every big play and had the building rocking. They did make their fury known to Harrison and ownership, with a protest outside aimed at the teams’ decision-makers, but inside once the game was going on, it felt mostly like business as usual — just with a very different look.
While the Rockets would charge back in the third quarter to make it a close game (and show where the Mavs still have work to do in coming together to reach their full potential), Dallas was able to show how this can all work to make them a real threat in a fairly wide-open Western Conference. The two big lineups looked pretty good for Dallas, as Davis and Gafford didn’t seem to step on each others toes too often, and they were able to shift Davis to the five in smaller lineups to speed things up and give the other team a different look. Defensively, it was immediately apparent how the Mavs could be not just good but great. It certainly helps facing a Rockets team that has spacing issues, but the Mavs were able to wall off the rim with Davis and Gafford lineups and Davis showed his versatility to guard in space when switching, shutting off the Rockets water on multiple drives. There were some hiccups in communication, with Amen Thompson slipping free on the baseline for a few wide open finishes, but that is a matter of familiarity not ability.
On offense, things got a bit sticky in the second half, and it was clear that they will be at their best (at least in the immediate) when they can push the pace off of defensive stops while they figure out the halfcourt. That’s unsurprising given a major change in personnel and Kyrie Irving, in particular, seemed to be trying to figure out the new rhythm of the offense. The good news is, their defense looks like it will create plenty of stops and provide transition and semi-transition opportunities until they get totally comfortable on the other end. For most of three quarters, the Davis era in Dallas got off to an extremely promising start and showed Mavs fans what this group was capable of.
And then there was an all-too-familiar sight of Anthony Davis grimacing in pain and leaving the game late in the third quarter with what the team called a “lower body injury”. The Mavs would hold on in the fourth without their new star, who said he would be “fine” after the game, indicating his upper leg got “tight” and he couldn’t get it too loosen up. The hope is that will indeed be the case and he won’t have any lingering effects as he returns from an abdominal injury, but after Davis provided a reminder of his ability to dominate, his exit was a reminder of what has held him back.
The biggest question for this Mavericks team is going to be their ability to sustain. Davis and Irving are both capable of looking like the best player in the world at their positions for halves and even whole games, but what has kept them from fully stepping into the class of the elite of the elite is the ability to do that over and over again consistently. We saw that in this game from Davis, as he came out on fire looking to make a statement and did so with his dominant first half, but was more pedestrian in the third quarter before exiting with an injury. Last year’s playoffs saw Irving put forth some brilliant performances, scoring 30 or more seven times in 22 games, but also had eight games where he didn’t crack the 20-point mark. With Doncic is gone, Irving has a Herculean task on his hands in the Dallas backcourt, as evidenced by his 42 minutes logged on Saturday, and will need to find that peak with more regularity.
The Mavericks have built a team with the ceiling of a championship contender. At their best, Irving and Davis can control and dominate a game like very few can, but what will determine if the Mavs are ultimately successful in this bold and grand experiment is those two finding a consistent level of excellence. They have produced it before in championship runs. Somewhat poetically both did so playing alongside LeBron James, who is now teammates with the man the Mavericks suddenly exiled.
Now they have to do it together and take on that leading role. Saturday’s performance was reason to have some belief, but also a reminder of the fragility of this new arrangement.
