‘Force of nature’ Zion Williamson, Pelicans too much for short-handed Mavericks to overcome - The Dallas Morning News

In the latest example of their 2021 “what could go wrong next?” saga, the Mavericks arrived in New Orleans for the start of a five-game road trip with confidence that, hey, at least Luka Doncic was back in the lineup.

Wrong. After arriving at Smoothie King Center Saturday night, Doncic felt ill and was sent back to the Mavericks’ hotel. Then his team, also playing without Kristaps Porzingis, fell behind by 15 points.

Facing those obstacles, and Zion Williamson, Tim Hardaway Jr. led a gritty comeback that pushed the Mavericks into the lead, but in the fourth quarter the Pelicans pulled away for a 112-103 victory.

Hardaway scored 30 points for Dallas and Jalen Brunson scored 24, but Williamson scored 38 points and pulled down 17 rebounds, a repeat of his then-career-high 36-point effort in a Feb. 12 loss in Dallas. And it came just one night after Williamson scored a career-high 39 points against Denver.

“It presents huge challenges for the defense -- and for the officials,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. “He is just creating collisions out there. This is a Shaquille O’Neal-type force of nature with a point-guard skillset.”

Boban Marjanovic, who got the start Saturday in Porzingis’ absence, noted that “some people feel about me the same way” in terms of being an immovable force at 7-4, but no one is quite like Williamson.

“First of all, you don’t expect somebody to jump from the free-throw line and (suddenly) he already has a layup,” Marjanovic said. “It’s cool. You’ve never seen a player like that. I’ve never seen it.”

Beating Williamson and the Pelicans without leading scorers Doncic and Porzingis seemed a lot to ask on this night, considering the Mavericks were 1-3 this season in games without Doncic; 7-8 in games without Porzingis; 0-2 when neither played.

When New Orleans scored the last 13 points of the first period to stretch its lead to 35-20, it marked the 10th straight game in which Dallas has trailed after one quarter.

And the Mavericks seemed doomed to their second loss in as many nights, another step backward after climbing from five games under .500 on Feb. 4 to a season-best four over .500.

Hardaway, though, opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer. Then two minutes later, with Dallas trailing 37-25, Hardaway did something more stirring: He stepped in front of 6-7, 300-pound Williamson and took a charge.

“You’ve got to have a lot of courage to stand in there get run over by that guy,” Carlisle said. “Because he’s coming at you fast. He’s coming at you like, it’s not just the AmTrack, it’s the Acela. It’s faster and it doesn’t stop. It doesn’t stop at Westport or wherever. It just goes psheww! Straight to New York City. It’s something else.”

It was the 19th charge drawn this season by Hardaway, 10th-most in the NBA, and it clearly energized Dallas. Hardaway briefly left the game, then returned to score 11 points to a 17-0 run that gave the Mavericks a 47-44 lead.

“That guy is very, very strong; strong as an ox,” Hardaway said of Williamson. “He’s a heck of a player; does an amazing job of attacking the basket. He’s great at his strengths.”

The score was tied at 53 at halftime and see-sawed during the third quarter, with the Pelicans taking an 80-78 lead into the fourth period.

Despite losing 48 player games this season due to COVID-19-related health and safety protocols, Dallas finally seemed to be getting healthy, but Doncic’s lingering lower-back stiffness caused him to miss Friday’s home loss to Minnesota.

Porzingis scored 31 points and pulled down 18 rebounds in that loss, but also played a season-high 37:32, so it wasn’t surprising that he sat out Saturday.

It marked the second straight time he sat out the second game of a back-to-back, after playing both games of back-to-backs on Jan. 17-18 and Feb. 3-4.

The Mavericks have eight more back-to-backs during this tightly compressed second half of the season, so there likely will be more Porzingis absences, though Carlisle on Saturday reiterated optimism that Porzingis in time will resume playing some back-to-backs.

“He could play tonight, but we’re not playing him,” Carlisle said before the game. “We just feel it’s the best thing for the team and for him. And when I say the team, I’m talking the big-picture of the season.”

Carlisle called it another “next-man up” situation. To say the least. The Mavericks on Saturday started three undrafted players – Maxi Kleber, Dorian Finney-Smith and Marjan Marjanovic; and two second-round picks Brunson and Josh Richardson.

“Every day this year is kind of a different day,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said, stressing that Doncic’s illness is not COVID-19-related. “Whether we’re in Minnesota and our hotel rooms are flooding, or we’re here and we get bad news about Luka not feeling well.

“There’s something coming up all the time. We’ve got to be light on our feet, nimble, quick, we’ve got to focus on what we have and not on what we don’t have and keep going. That’s what this year is about.”

Lauding Redick

Before Saturday’s game, New Orleans coach Stan Van Gundy provided a glowing assessment of JJ Redick, the veteran sharpshooting guard the Mavericks acquired from the Pelicans on Thursday.

“He’s experienced, smart, tough and can shoot the ball,” Van Gundy said. “Who wouldn’t want that, making a playoff run? He started the year slow, but then he was playing really, really well and over the last few weeks was back to himself, shooting 46% from three.”

Redick is rehabbing a heel injury that has kept him out of games since March 3. The Mavericks say they don’t have a timetable for Redick’s return, but are ecstatic about the value he eventually will bring.

“Obviously it’s putting another guy out there who’s a reliable shooter, but also he doesn’t get enough credit, I don’t think [for his defense],” Van Gundy said. “He’s not going to make defensive mistakes.

“He’s going to be in the right place. And he’s a smart, tough guy. And he’s been in a lot of big games, so nothing’s going to bother him. He’ll help them a great deal.”

Find more Mavericks coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.

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