When the Mavericks started the fourth quarter trailing 91-79, my brain still hadn’t full accepted a Mavericks defeat. Luka Doncic was playing spectacularly, the Nets were shorthanded and bound to look sluggish on the second night of a back-to-back. It was a tall order, but all the Mavericks had to do to have a chance was somehow win the short stint that Luka sat on the bench in the fourth quarter.
The Mavericks outscored the Nets 12-2 in that stretch.
It wasn’t even like the Mavericks were out-scheming the Nets, it was just Jalen Brunson and Spencer Dinwiddie — the only other players not named Doncic the Mavericks trust with the ball in their hands — going to work in 1-on-1 situations.