On Sunday, the Dallas Mavericks played the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second game of this “mini” two game series. The Mavericks hope to continue their momentum on this Mother’s Day game to maintain control of the fifth seed in the western conference standings. The Mavericks look to get win number 40 on the season.

On Friday, the Dallas Mavericks played the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first game of this “mini” two-game series. The Mavericks started this game on fire as their offense was clicking on all cylinders by taking a 62-37 halftime lead. The game would be far out of reach for the Cavaliers as the Mavericks ran away with it for a 110-90 blowout victory. Luka Doncic finished with 24 points and 8 rebounds in just 23 minutes of action. The Mavericks were able to get production from Tim Hardaway Jr as he finished with 20 points in the win. With the win, the Mavericks record improved to 39-28 on the season, as they are now a season-high eleven games over .500 on the season. The Mavericks were able to maintain control of the fifth seed in the western conference standings with the win as they are just 0.5 game ahead of the Portland Trail Blazers before this upcoming matchup. The Mavericks don’t hold the tiebreaker over the Portland Trail Blazers because the Trail Blazers won the season series against the Mavericks, that just goes to show you how important these remaining games are for the Mavericks. The Mavericks really control their own destiny at this point in regards to maintaining control of the fifth seed in the western conference standings. The regular season is almost over as the Mavericks only have just four more games left, after this matchup.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are coming into this game by going 1-9 in their last 10 games. They are recently coming off a 110-90 blowout loss against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday to see their record drop to 21-46 on the season. The Cavaliers were coming into this season with some hopes of trying to make the playoffs but they’ve now turned their attention to acquiring a good draft pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. The Cavaliers are currently the fifth-worst team in the NBA. This team is led by Collin Sexton as they look to finish the season on a good note. If their current trend continues, they will have good odds of getting a good draft pick in the upcoming NBA Draft as they have nothing to play for other than pride at this point in the season.

Coming into this game, the Mavericks won their last meeting with the Cavaliers 110-90 on Friday. The Mavericks can secure the season series sweep with a win in this matchup. The Mavericks previously swept their regular season series last season 2-0 against the Cavaliers. Overall, the Cavaliers hold the all-time series with a record of 40-38.

The Mavericks started this game by having Maxi Kleber (right Achilles soreness), Kristaps Porzingis (right knee soreness) and Tyrell Terry (personal reasons) be ruled out for this game. As a result, the Mavericks went with Doncic, Richardson, Hardaway Jr, Finney-Smith and Cauley-Stein as their starting five in this game. The first points in the game would belong to Tim Hardaway Jr as he nailed a three pointer for the Mavericks to get this game underway. The Cavaliers wouldn’t get their first points until the 10:55 mark as Collin Sexton drilled a layup, while being fouled and would knock down the “AND-ONE” free-throw to come within 5-3 of the Mavericks. The Mavericks would extend their lead to 13-5 after Tim Hardaway Jr knocked down a three pointer that forced the Cavaliers to call a timeout with 9:19 left in the quarter. Prior to this timeout, the Mavericks opened the quarter by making four of their first five attempts while the Cavaliers made just two of their first five attempts taken thus far. Coming out of the timeout, the Cavaliers turned to Kevin Love as he was able to convert on a jump shot to come within 13-7 of the Mavericks with 9:11 left in the quarter. The Mavericks were able to extend their lead to eight points after Josh Richardson knocked down a jump shot to extend their lead to 17-9 with 7:46 left in the quarter. The Cavaliers were playing a little bit better than the first game of this “mini” two game series by knocking down a little bit more shots, but still, the Mavericks were far in control of the game. The Mavericks were able to extend their lead to eleven points after Josh Richardson knocked down a jump shot to extend their lead to 22-11 with 6:17 left in the quarter. Rick Carlisle would call a timeout with 4:29 left in the quarter after the Mavericks’ lead shrunk to 22-17. Prior to this timeout, the Cavaliers were able to generate a 6-0 run to try and generate some kind of momentum in the game thus far. The Mavericks opened the game by continuing their offensive dominance as they were able to keep their offense in rhythm with taking good quality shots. Coming out of the timeout, the Mavericks turned to Dorian Finney-Smith but couldn’t convert as he missed a three pointer that kept the score at 22-17 with 4:15 left in the quarter. In the final minutes of the quarter, the Mavericks were able to maintain control of the lead and take a 39-30 lead into the second quarter. The game leading scorer after one quarter of play would belong to Josh Richardson as he scored 14 points for the Mavericks. The Cavaliers were led by Collin Sexton as he scored 10 points. At the end of the first quarter, the Mavericks were shooting 64% on 16-of-25 shooting from the field. The Mavericks are 24-0 this season when leading after the first quarter. The offense looked good for the Mavericks but the Cavaliers were playing much better in this game than the last game.

The second quarter would begin by having Collin Sexton nail a driving layup for the Cavaliers to get this quarter underway. The Mavericks wouldn’t get their first points in the quarter until the 9:42 mark as Nicolo Melli knocked down a three pointer to extend their lead to 42-34. The Mavericks were able to extend their lead to ten points after Luka Doncic nailed a driving layup to extend their lead to 44-34 with 8:47 left in the quarter. Rick Carlisle would call a timeout with 8:04 left in the quarter after the Mavericks’ lead shrunk to 44-36. Prior to this timeout, the Mavericks opened the quarter by making two of their first six attempts while the Cavaliers made three of their first eleven attempts taken thus far. The Mavericks offense started to go quiet which the Cavaliers started to use to their advantage to try to flip the momentum to their side. Coming out of the timeout, the Mavericks allowed Mfiondu Kabengele to knock down two free-throws to trim the Mavericks lead to 44-38 with 7:57 left in the quarter. The Mavericks were able to extend their lead to twelve points after Nicolo Melli knocked down a slam dunk to extend their lead to 50-38 with 6:53 left in the quarter. The Cavaliers would call a timeout with 6:22 left in the quarter after the Mavericks extended their lead to 52-38. Prior to this timeout, the Mavericks offense started to generate a “dunk contest” as they had a trio of dunks to generate a 8-2 run to maintain control of the game thus far. The Mavericks offense were able to find their mojo back by getting good quality shots to go down. Coming out of the timeout, the Cavaliers turned to Issac Okoro as he was able to convert on a driving layup to come within 52-40 of the Mavericks with 6:07 left in the quarter. The Cavaliers were able to trim their deficit to nine points after Mfiondu Kabengele knocked down a three pointer to come within 52-43 of the Mavericks with 5:10 left in the quarter. In the final minutes of the quarter, the Mavericks were able to maintain control of the lead and take a 64-53 lead into halftime. The game leading scorer after two quarters of play would belong to Josh Richardson as he scored 16 points for the Mavericks. The Cavaliers were led by Collin Sexton as he scored 12 points. The quarter was dominated by the Mavericks as they were able to knock down some shots to maintain control of the game. At the end of the first half, the Mavericks were shooting 56.5% on 26-of-46 shooting from the field. The Cavaliers were playing much better by getting their shots to go down unlike the previous game but still the Mavericks were able to keep the momentum on their side.

Coming out of the half, the Cavaliers were able to get on the board first in the third quarter by having Collin Sexton nail two free-throws to come within 64-55 of the Mavericks. Josh Richardson was able to score the first points in the quarter for the Mavericks as he nailed a jump shot with 11:13 left in the quarter to extend their lead to 66-55. WOW, LUKA DONCIC WOULD RECEIVE A FLAGRANT 2 FOUL, WHICH RESULTS IN A AUTOMATIC EJECTION WITH 10:07 LEFT IN THE QUARTER. THE MAVERICKS WOULD BE WITHOUT LUKA DONCIC FOR THE REMINDER OF THE GAME. As a result, Collin Sexton would knock down the two flagrant foul free-throws to come within 68-59 of the Mavericks with 10:05 left in the quarter. It appeared that Luka Doncic received a flagrant 2 foul for a “low blow in the groin area” as the Officials went to the monitor to make that judgment. This does not count toward Luka Doncic’s technical total, so it won’t trigger an automatic one-game suspension. The Mavericks would need to figure out a way to leave the arena with a win, without Luka Doncic. The Cavaliers would call a timeout with 7:54 left in the quarter after the Mavericks extended their lead to 73-59. Prior to this timeout, the Mavericks were able to generate a 7-2 run since Luka Doncic was ejected from the game, as they were still able to maintain control of the game. The Mavericks opened the quarter by making four of their first seven attempts while the Cavaliers made one of their first five attempts taken thus far. Coming out of the timeout, the Cavaliers turned to Jarrett Allen but couldn’t convert as he lost the ball which resulted in a Dwight Powell “put-back” dunk to extend their lead to 75-59 with 7:21 left in the quarter. The Cavaliers were able to trim their deficit to eleven points after Brodric Thomas knocked down a jump shot to come within 77-66 of the Mavericks with 5:04 left in the quarter. In the final minutes of the quarter, the Mavericks were able to maintain control of the lead take a 98-72 lead into the fourth quarter. The game leading scorer after three quarters of play would belong to Tim Hardaway Jr as he scored 25 points for the Mavericks. The Cavaliers were led by Collin Sexton as he scored 21 points. Despite Luka Doncic being ejected in this quarter, the Mavericks didn’t let that phase them as they were still able to dominate the quarter. Through three quarters of play, the Mavericks were shooting 58.8% on 40-of-68 shooting from the field. The Mavericks would need to play a little bit more in order to put this game away for good in the final 12:00 minutes of the game.

The fourth quarter would begin by having Willie Cauley-Stein nail a layup for the Mavericks to get this quarter underway. The Cavaliers weren’t able to get their first points in the quarter until the 11:18 mark by having Brodric Thomas nail a free-throw to come within 100-73 of the Mavericks. The Cavaliers were able to trim their deficit to twenty-four points after Collin Sexton knocked down a three pointer to come within 103-79 of the Mavericks with 9:46 left in the game. Barring a miracle comeback by the Cavaliers, the Mavericks looked like they were on their way to leaving the arena with a victory as the time and the huge lead were on the Mavericks’ side.

This team looked like they were ready to play and showed no signs of rust from the previous game as the Mavericks were able to take a 64-53 lead into halftime. The Cavaliers played much better as they were able to generate some offense compared to their previous matchup against the Mavericks. This is a very important game for the Mavericks as they ONLY hold a 0.5 game lead, before this matchup, for the fifth seed in the western conference standings, ahead of the Portland Trail Blazers. The Mavericks want to keep winning because that’s the only way they will maintain control of the fifth seed.

In the end, it was the Dallas Mavericks defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers 124-97 to clinch the season series sweep on Mother’s Day. The Mavericks record would improve to 40-28 on the season. Luka Doncic finished the game with 15 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in the win (before being ejected). This had no affect on Luka Doncic technical fouls as he is still eligible to play, just as long as he doesn’t receive an “actual” technical foul in that category. The Cavaliers were led by Collin Sexton as he finished with 24 points and 7 assists. The Mavericks were able to get production from Tim Hardaway Jr as he finished with 25 points in the blowout win. The Mavericks have been on a tear in the month of May as they have now won five of their last six games in the month. The Mavericks needed to win every single one of them (in the games they have won this month) to maintain their control of the fifth seed in the western conference standings. To make things a lot more simpler, the Mavericks control their own destiny into what seed they will finish with at the end of the season. Things are looking good, each time the Mavericks win a game this month to remain in control of the fifth seed, just as long as they keep it that way. The Mavericks only have four games left on the season and they need to make every single one of them count.

The Mavericks will continue to be on the road as they will travel to Memphis to play the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday in the second-to-last road game for the Mavericks on the season.

We hope you guys had a good Mother’s Day!

Categories: Mavs Fans For Life