The Dallas Mavericks faced the Denver Nuggets on Friday night and earned a nice victory in their third NBA Cup West Group C game. Both the Mavs and Nuggets drew 1-1 in Cup Qualifiers on the night, so Dallas needed this one more than anything to have a realistic chance of advancing to the Knockout Round. While Nikola Jokic returned to the lineup for Denver after welcoming a newborn the night before, the Mavericks were disadvantaged without superstar Luka Doncic, who is sidelined with a wrist injury and also expected to miss at least the next two games.

After taking a 24-point lead early in the third quarter, things quickly turned around and the Mavs found themselves in trouble late in the fourth. Despite some questionable calls (and no calls), the Mavs never seemed flustered and for perhaps the first time this season resembled last year’s balanced playoff team. This was a gutsy win without their best player, a big conference win and a big win versus the NBA Cup. Let’s get to the numbers!

Kyrie Irving: B+

19 points / 6 rebounds / 6 assists / 1 steal / 1 block

Kyrie had his first subpar shooting night in quite some time. He started well, but the Nuggets played him much better in the second half, forcing misses and preventing the killer threes we’ve come to expect lately (he went 1-for-6 on the night of three). His rebound total was very nice and he did a little bit of everything, but when he finished in first place, expectations are rightly higher. He gets the “+” added to his grade for hitting two absolute free throws with 7 seconds left while the Mavs have a 1-point lead.

Quentin Grimes: A

14 points / 4 rebounds / 3 assists / 2 steals / 0 blocks

Grimes is really showing that his recent flow is no fluke. Starting in Luka Doncic’s absence, he made the most of his 29 minutes, shooting 5-for-9 from the floor, 2-for-4 from three and 2-for-2 from the charity stripe (both coming with 1:20 left in the game to give the Mavs a two-point lead). He played sloppy defense and put himself in the right spot to do the intangibles that don’t necessarily translate into stats.

Klay Thompson: C

0 points / 4 rebounds / 4 assists / 0 steals / 1 block

This was a tough 0-for-8 night for Thompson (0-for-4 from three). I’ve often rated it high on a “shoots well” basis, so it’s only fair to rate it low on overall disastrous performance. His grade isn’t lower just because he had a positive impact passing and rebounding and playing nice, non-statistical defense, but if he had played even slightly better the Mavs might have had the lead in this game never handed over.

Naji Marshall: A+

26 points / 1 rebound / 1 assist / 1 steal / 0 blocks

11-for-15 from the floor. 3-for-4 from three. Career high 26 points. An excellent drive and finish with 19 seconds left in the game put the Mavs up four. A perfectly timed intentional foul with four seconds left. Yes, we all would have liked higher rebound numbers and even assists, but Naji gets the coveted A+ for being the best player in a Mavs uniform for all 48 minutes tonight.

PJ Washington: A++ (yes, it’s actually just an A+)

22 points / 13 rebounds / 1 assist / 3 steals / 0 blocks

I promise I’m not handing out A+ grades because of the euphoria of a great win. Like Naji Marshall, Washington deserved every part of this figure in my eyes. He started the game in the first few minutes of the game and looked like an absolute world beater, starting 3-for-4. He finished the game shooting 53.3% from the field, although he missed both of his three-point attempts. On the negative side of the ledger, he had four sales figures, and while that may be a number, he just did way too many intangibly positive things in this book to not give him top marks. His defense was fantastic overall all night, but his final two minutes of the game were epic. He had the ball low with 2:08 to go, but he had the presence of mind to wait until a full-strength defender fouled him for an and-one, which he converted to tie the game. He then hit a layup with 50 seconds left, extending the lead to four. He followed that up by going 2-for-2 from the free throw line with three seconds left, pushing the lead to three. Finally, he stole the inbound pass in front of the full court to seal the game. If Spinal Tap can “go to 11,” then so can PJ Washington, at least for tonight.

Daniel Gafford: A

13 points / 6 rebounds / 1 assist / 3 steals / 1 block

Gafford had an evenly matched night for himself overall, but did so while carrying much of the burden of defending one of the best players in the world. Gafford, the victim of a few bad calls, stayed the course and impacted this game in a meaningful way, perhaps highlighting his effort with a total of three steals. He also managed to commit only two fouls, while the other Maverick centers were foul-heavy in this one. He went 5-for-7 from the floor and 3-for-4 on free throws in a game where virtually every point counted. This was an overall fun match, highlighted by solid play against Nikola Jokic, despite what his gaudy numbers might initially show (as much of his skill was against other Mavs’ defenders).

Dereck Lively II: B

11 points / 6 rebounds / 0 assists / 1 steal / 2 blocks

Lively hit all four of his shots and went 3-for-4 on free throws. He had a really nice (and very timely) putback after a Kyrie Irving miss and his two blocks were huge. However, he recorded five fouls, a few of which were blunt to say the least. He had a nice stat line and a good game overall, but his inability to stay on the ground affected things down the line (see: Maxi Kleber) and hurt the team in general throughout the game, simply because of the ripple effect it had.

Maxi Kleber: C-

0 points / 2 rebounds / 2 assists / 0 steals / 0 blocks

Kleber got some extra juice in this match, largely because Dereck Lively couldn’t stop the foul. Although the scenario was not an ideal setup for success, Kleber had a very difficult time here. By the time the buzzer sounded in the third quarter, he had committed five fouls of his own. To put that into further perspective, he only played 9:12 up to that point. Maxi did his best and didn’t hang his head, but other than that this was a very forgettable evening for him.

Jaden Hardy: C

8 points / 0 rebounds / 2 assists / 0 steals / 0 blocks

Hardy’s eight points were a solid contribution, but they came off an inefficient 3-for-9. He also had a plus/minus of -16 to lead the team the way you don’t want to lead the team.

Spencer Dinwiddie: B+

10 points / 2 rebounds / 4 assists / 0 steals / 0 blocks

Dinwiddie had a quiet nice night. On one hand, you could say this is about as ideal a stat line as you’d expect, but I’d say the expectation for Dinwiddie is realistically higher. I think he has more to give and will do so in due time, especially in a game where Luka is back in Dallas and watching on TV. Still, I bump him a bit higher here because he did nothing wrong and made a team-leading contribution with three made three-pointers (tied with Marshall) on 60% shooting.

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