The Mavericks claim a dramatic 117-111 victory against the Trail Blazers

The Dallas Mavericks completed a stirring comeback against the Portland Trail Blazers, winning 117-111 on Thursday night in Dallas.

Jaden Hardy came off the bench to lead all scorers with 25 points. Dereck Livley had a monster double-double with 21 points and 16 rebounds. It was Lively’s first game with at least 20 points this season.

Portland entered Dallas on the second night of a back-to-back, but it was the Mavericks who started the game sleepily – the Trail Blazers collected six offensive rebounds in the first quarter to help build a 28-20 lead heading into the other. .

In the second quarter, the Mavericks made up some ground, thanks to Hardy’s scoring off the bench, but the Trail Blazers couldn’t miss from deep. Dallas trailed at halftime thanks to Portland shooting 10-of-18 from three in the first half.

The third quarter and the first half of the fourth quarter followed the same theme, with Dallas making a run to get within one shot, then the Trail Blazers immediately answering back with a run of their own. Dallas cut the lead to 74-73 in the third, only for Portland to go on an 8-0 run. With about five minutes left in the fourth, Dallas went on another run, only for Portland to extend the lead back to 10 after a timeout.

With about four minutes left in the game and Dallas down by 10, it felt like the Mavericks were finally waking up. Led by Lively’s defense at the rim and his offensive rebounding at the other end of the floor, the Mavericks cleaned up their mistakes, forced the Blazers into tough shots and regained the lead on a late three by PJ Washington. Once Dallas took a three-point lead with under two minutes remaining, they never surrendered it as a tired Trail Blazers team limped to the finish line and scored two points in the final 4:23 of the game. Dallas closed the game on an 18-2 run.

Here’s what we noticed.

Derek Lively is that guy

Lively’s second season has felt a little strange. The metrics are great, with the Mavericks playing great basketball with him on the floor, and Dallas’ defensive numbers look great when Lively patrols the paint. His assists are also up as Dallas relies more and more on their big men to operate with the ball in their hands at the elbow.

Despite that success and the Mavericks’ initial good start to the season before the injuries to Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, the eye test felt a little off. Lively has roughly the same number of minutes per game average like his rookie season, and his counting numbers (points, rebounds) feel a little flat. Lively is clearly impacting the game in a winning way for Dallas, but this season has felt a little underwhelming, if only because of the sky-high expectations for the 20-year-old after an otherworldly rookie season.

Tonight it kind of felt like Livelys is coming out to the party. This was the Lively most anticipated after his rookie season: 35 minutes, 21 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks. Lively was the anchor for Dallas in this game, cleaning up fouls on both ends of the floor, whether it was bailing out a teammate defensively at the rim or grabbing an offensive rebound after a doomed possession. Most impressive of all Lively’s numbers are probably the minutes: The 35 minutes is easily a season high, while Daniel Gafford played just 10 in his first game back from a sprained ankle that kept him out of the Lakers’ win on Tuesday.

Ideally, this is what the Mavericks’ center minute distribution should look like, and Lively should stay on the floor in good health and avoid foul trouble. Lively had just three fouls tonight, and was great in the fourth quarter to compete close to the rim without giving up cheap fouls on pump fakes or loose balls. It’s not fair to expect Lively to do this every game, but if the Mavericks can get his minutes per match up near the 30 range, this team can really do some special things – given Lively’s body can hold up.

A big Hardy party

Jaden Hardy has pretty much given the Mavericks everything they could have expected as the 37th overall pick a few seasons ago. Despite Hardy’s high school pedigree, you just can’t expect too much from second-round picks. They are basically lotto scratch tickets.

Hardy hasn’t played well in his third season, but the Mavericks haven’t really needed him considering how stacked the lineup is at full health. But with all the injuries, it’s finally time for Hardy to get some consistent burn, and while he’s still not playing flawless basketball, he’s giving the Mavericks some crucial scoring. Hardy had a season-high 25 points tonight, and if it weren’t for his early scoring in the first half, Dallas might have been in a deficit it couldn’t rally from.

Success for Hardy tonight looked like what it tends to do when Hardy succeeds: scoring off the catch, whether it’s catch and shoots or offensive closeouts. Hardy still hasn’t found a consistent on-the-ball game, run the offense or try to create anything from scratch. His handle just isn’t there, and his athleticism and size hinder him when he tries to go one-on-one. But attacking a distorted defense? Find another creator? Hardy has the jumper to pay, and the threat of his jumper helps his unreliable handle when defenders close to take away the three. Hardy scored a lot of assisted buckets tonight and that’s exactly what the Mavericks need without Luka and Kyrie, just someone who can put the ball in the basket.

Dallas doesn’t have a ton of creation, but Spencer Dinwiddie and Quentin Grimes do just enough, and Hardy enjoys staying off-ball.