Mavericks Notes: Washington, Doncic, Hardaway Jr., Pace

P.J. Washington proved to be the Mavericks‘ X-factor on Thursday, racking up 29 points and 11 rebounds in Dallas’ 119-110 win over the Thunder in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals. Washington, who was added in a trade deadline deal with Charlotte, hadn’t scored more than 18 points or grabbed more than seven rebounds in any of the Mavs’ previous playoff games.

“I felt good last night and this morning,” Washington said after the contest, per Dwain Price of Mavs.com. “Going into the game I had confidence in my shot. I knew I was going to get open corner shots, so I just had to come in here and knock them down.”

We have more on the Mavericks:

• There were questions about whether Luka Doncic could play effectively with a sprained right knee after his subpar Game 1 outing. He bounced back with 29 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and three steals in Game 2. A key stat was his 5-for-8 success rate on 3-point tries after going 5-of-35 in the previous four games, Tim MacMahon of ESPN notes. Doncic said he just had to tough it out. “It was just my mentality,” he said. “I think today was one of the hardest game I had to play. I’m battling out there. I try and do my best to help [the] team win with just my mentality. Have a great start, and then the team’s going to follow me.”
• Tim Hardaway Jr. missed the last four games of the first round against the Clippers with a sprained right ankle. Hardaway also missed last postseason with a foot injury, so he was just glad to get back in action for Game 1, when he scored two points in 17 minutes. “Being able to go out there and feel the physicality of being on defense and offense – a lot of grabbing, a lot of holding — I’m just extremely happy to be able to accept the challenge. I missed a couple years ago and I’m looking forward to it now,” he told Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com.
• Hardaway, who has one year left on his contract, had 17 points in 19 minutes during Game 2. “It was great. We needed him,” Washington told Sefko. “We needed every bit of it. He played his heart out on both ends of the court and I’m glad to finally get a playoff win for him this year.”
• While the Thunder have the younger team, the Mavs were successful on Thursday by picking up the pace. They scored 99 points in the first three quarters, Price notes. “We tried to get over the speed limit tonight,” coach Jason Kidd said. “We’ve been under the speed limit. We were more in the school zone speed limit (in Game 1). We were running (Thursday), and we’ve got to continue to keep running if we want to have a chance to win this series.”