The last night in Texas basketball blog will recap each game played by the Texas NBA teams throughout this NBA season. The Spurs have Wemby, Luka is still doing Luka Magic in Dallas, and the Rockets have hope for the first time since James Harden left town. It’s time for Texas to rule the NBA again.
Last night in Texas basketball landed wins for Mavs and Rockets in some fun games. The Rockets finally get into the win column and the Mavericks continue their clutch undefeated ways in a different manner. Texas basketball fans should be overall incredibly happy after Wednesday night.
It’s about time that the Rockets get their first win of the season. They hadn’t been knocking down open jump shots, but that changed Wednesday night. They beat the Charlotte Hornets 128-119 in what became a “clutch” game by NBA metrics with under five minutes to play in the fourth quarter.
It was an overall team win where the Rockets had three starters score 20+ points and the other two scored a respectable 17 and 19 points a piece. If you’re a Rockets fan you’re thrilled with the result and how the team played.
It was the Fred Van Vleet and Dillon Brooks show from what I could tell. They hit a combined eight threes between the two of them, and Brooks didn’t miss a single one making all three of his attempts.
Houston Rockets Top Performer Last Night
For the first time this season, picking the Houston Rockets top performer last night is a difficult one. I’m going to give it to Dillon Brooks for scoring 20 points on 7-9 shooting and adding five steals, five assists, and three rebounds to his stat line.
Moving onto Dallas as the Mavericks took on the Chicago Bulls in the American Airlines Center Wednesday night. For the fourth time in four games, the Mavs were in what the NBA calls a “clutch” game. It’s certainly not something you want to be a part of each and every night in the NBA, but the Mavs are finding new ways to win in these clutch situations.
Dallas was missing Kyrie Irving for the second game in a row, and didn’t get a good game from Luka Doncic. Those two things are a recipe for disaster for the Mavericks, but they weathered the storm en route to a 114-105 win over Chicago.
The offseason was a major point of contention across Mavericks Twitter, but they added some defensive parts and a whole lot of depth compared to last season’s team. Derrick Jones Jr. has been a pleasant surprise in the fact that he can make some open threes, which is key in this offense.
The highlight above is a Tim Hardaway Jr. four point play, but that’s not what I’m paying attention to. Rookie Dereck Lively II is what I saw the whole play. The second chance effort to grab the offensive rebound and immediately chuck it to the open shooter was the play of the night. Lively is exceeding expectations in most facets of the game and exactly what the Dallas Mavericks needed this season.
Dallas Mavericks Top Performer Last Night
With Luka having a relatively bad game, it’s finally time to hand this award to someone else on the squad. Dereck Lively II is the winner due to all of his effort and energy Wednesday night. He finished with just seven points, but added 10 assists and added 13 rebounds (7 offensive boards!!!) to his stat line.
Last night in Texas basketball landed wins for Mavs and Rockets.
