Mavericks’ blowout win over Wizards highlighted by Klay Thompson’s record night and feel-good debut
DALLAS It was 7:01 of basketball-shooting bliss.
Klay Thompson being Klay Thompson.
Swish after swish triggering increasingly loud roars in American Airlines Center.
Granted it would have been nicer had this been April or May or better yet June, instead of a late-January Monday night first quarter against 6-38 Washington, but for Thompson and the Mavericks it was a welcome burst of pure greatness, regardless of circumstance.
Few of the roughly 20,000 fans in the arena or those watching on TV will long recall the exact score of Dallas 130-108 rout of the Washington Wizards, but theyll sure remember Thompson pouring in those seven first-quarter 3-pointers in ten attempts.
I cant lie to you: It felt great, Thompson said.
It always feels great when you shoot the ball well, but it just felt great because we needed a win where we put a team away early.
Thompson scored only two more points before sitting out the games final 17 minutes, but it scarcely mattered, not to the games result or what his early scoring deluge represented.
With his 35th birthday looming on Feb.
8, Thompsons still got it.
He might not do it often or consistently, but hes still capable.
And that might be meaningful come playoff time if the Mavericks (25-22) can muster enough good health to get there.
Two early Thompson 3-pointers gave Dallas a 9-2 lead, but he was just getting warmed up.
He made three more treys in a 55-second span to give Dallas a 24-5 lead, then another to extend the advantage to 28-7.
It was vintage Thompson.
Not as jaw-dropping as the night almost exactly ten years earlier on Jan.
25, 2015 when he drained a still-NBA-record nine threes in the third quarter of a game against Sacramento, but impressive nonetheless.
Thompson smiled and leaned his head back in disbelief when a reporter mentioned that his record night happened a decade ago.
That makes me feel seasoned, he said.
That is crazy.
Did Monday nights shooting groove take him back to that and other big nights in his career? Absolutely, he said.
You do that, it reminds you that theres greatness still within you.
Its obviously harder to conjure up nightly after a decade of so much basketball, but I love to use this quote: Be at your best when your best is needed.
I know I have another level to reach and we have so much basketball ahead of us.
So its definitely a confidence-builder and something I can lean on going into the rest of the season.
This was only the seventh time Thompson has eclipsed 20 points this season, though before Luka Doncics calf strain knocked him out for the past 17 games, Dallas wasnt relying on big Thompson scoring nights.
Frankly, this visit from the Wizards couldnt have come at a better time for Dallas, which had lost 11 of its last 15 games; was coming off a loss to Boston; and is about to embark on a season-high five-game road trip that will take them to the Feb.
6 NBA trade deadline.
Washington has lost 14 straight games, 11 of them by double-digits.
Since winning their opening road game against Atlanta, Washington has dropped 21 straight away from home.
The Mavericks feasted, taking as much as a 38-point second-quarter lead (63-25) and eventually placing six players in double figures.
Mavericks coach Jason Kidd credited point guard Spencer Dinwiddie for recognizing Thompsons hot hand early and for feeding him often: I thought the screens were set and Klay was ready to go and I thought he got us going and everyone else followed after that.
Mondays game included a Mavericks feel-good subplot when, with 7:37 left in the fourth quarter, two-way signee Kylor Kelley made his NBA debut at age 27 years and 154 days.
Kelley, 7-feet and 230 pounds, was signed on Sunday, a day after Maxi Kleber became the third Mavericks center in 11 days to be sidelined by a significant injury.
Kelley said he was getting ready to practice on Sunday with his G League South Bay Lakers teammates when his agent, Mayar Zokaei, called.
Whens your next game? Zokaei coyly asked.
Wednesday, Kelley said.
No, Zokaei said, because youre getting picked up by the Dallas Mavericks.
Recalled Kelley: It was mind-blowing, so I was speechless for about two minutes.
Its been a crazy 24 hours.
Kelley arrived in Dallas on Sunday night, woke up and soon after headed to AAC to get an afternoon crash course on the Mavericks offensive and defensive sets and terminology.
Kidd was honest when asked before the game why the Mavericks signed Kelley.
Hes a big.
Theres not a lot of them to choose from, so thats why we chose him.
We believe that he can help.
Kelley grew up in Utah, then Oregon, where during high school he sprouted from 6-1 to 7 feet, but only weighed 185 pounds.
He attended two small colleges before playing his last two college seasons at Oregon State, where he made the Pac-12 All-Defensive team in both 2019 and 2020, but went undrafted.
His pro career began with the G League Austin Spurs, then detoured in 2021 to a season with the London Lions of the British Basketball League, then a season with the Bakken Bears in Denmark.
Hed been in the G League ever since, the only exception being the preseason game he played with the Los Angeles Lakers on Oct.
4 of this season, playing six minutes and scoring four points that evening in Palm Desert, Calif.
Its been a long, long four years a long journey, for sure.
But a couple of years overseas maybe helped mature my body.
The past couple of years in the G-League Ive gotten better every year, which is a testament to that.
Kelley scored his first NBA point with 5:03 left Monday when he made the second of two free-throws.
He finished with one point, four rebounds and two steals in eight minutes.
I thought his activity and his talk (were good), Kidd said.
He was vocal for someone who just got here.
His voice could be heard on the floor.
Thats a great sign for a newcomer.
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