The Dallas Mavericks fell to the Cleveland Cavaliers by a score of 100-99 tonight. Kemba Walker and Christian Wood paced Dallas with 32 and 26 respective points. Donovan Mitchell led the Cavs with 25 of his own.
Kemba Walker came out of the gates with something to prove, scoring the Mavericks’ first nine points. The shorthanded Mavs played extremely hard and things got really weird early, as Theo Pinson even made an ultra-rare first quarter appearance. But somehow, some way, Dallas was able to take a 29-27 lead into the second period.
The second quarter got even wonkier, as the Mavericks deployed a nightmarish five-man group of Frank Ntilikina/Jaden Hardy/Pinson/Dorian Finney-Smith/JaVale McGee to start things out.