The Dallas Mavericks played arguably their most electric game of the season on Sunday afternoon, as Kyrie Irving drilled an insane 21-foot left-handed runner over the out-stretched arms of Nikola Jokic to secure a win for the Mavericks over the incumbent NBA champion Denver Nuggets.
The Mavericks continue to impress with their physicality and connectedness on the defensive end throughout this recent stretch, as Dallas has won five out of their last six contests ever since Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd chose to insert Derrick Jones Jr. and Daniel Gafford in the starting lineup.
However, Jones Jr. and Gafford obviously don’t bolster the Mavericks’ 3-point shooting much when they are on the court, despite the fact that Jones Jr. is finally connecting from distance on some of his attempts.
Dallas Mavericks are on brink of destroying concerning weakness at the perfect time
The Mavericks also have gotten poor shooting from most of their role players recently, as Maxi Kleber and P.J. Washington continue to struggle immensely from the 3-point line as well. The Mavericks have only made 15 or more 3-pointers once in the last six contests, and in two of those games, the Mavericks haven’t even scratched 10 made 3-pointers.
With a reliable 3-point shooter in Josh Green out due to injury as well as the fact that most of Dallas’ role players have struggled from outside recently, a remedy for Dallas’ shooting issues outside of Irving and Luka Doncic seems nowhere to be found.
However, Mavericks shooting guard Tim Hardaway Jr. is one of the best shooters in the NBA when he’s fully locked in and he’s certainly the type of player that Dallas could use to generate some offense from beyond the arc. Unfortunately, though, Hardaway Jr. is currently in the midst of one of the worst shooting slumps in his career, one that has spanned over a month and a half and has dragged Hardaway Jr. down to 15.7 points per game on 35.9 percent shooting from outside.
Hardaway Jr. is staying positive amidst his slump which is all Mavericks fans can hope for at the moment given the team is still seeing success, but getting back the microwave scorer and 3-point marksman that Mavericks fans saw Hardaway Jr. become early on this season would be transcendent for the Mavericks given how well they are playing on defense now.
Hopefully, Hardaway Jr. can up the ante ahead of the playoffs, as the Mavericks may have to seek other options in their rotation if Hardaway Jr. continues to have games where he only scores one point in 15 minutes, as was the case for him against Denver on Sunday afternoon.
For more on Tim Hardaway Jr. and the Dallas Mavericks ahead of the playoffs, stay tuned as we’ll have you covered.
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