DALLAS _ This was a fun experiment.
Give the Mavericks a 19-point lead early in the second quarter against a team that at least looks like it has a great resume and see if a winless Dallas team can hang on for 35 minutes.
The answer: A resounding yes as long as Dennis Smith Jr. is on the floor to dribble out the clock and wave his arm, encouraging the AAC crowd to stand and celebrate a 103-94 victory over Memphis.
Of course Smith did a lot more prior to the arm waving. He led the Mavericks with 19 points. He led the team with five assists. His 8-for-12 shooting which included three 3-pointers made him the team's most efficient shooter.
Smith is both the reason for fans to be excited about Wednesday night and to be wary of what lies ahead. He's a multi-talented rookie to be sure. But he also missed two games with a knee-related injury and he's 19 years old. Any time a fan base gets overly excited about watching NBA summer league basketball, where Smith and the Lakers' Lonzo Ball shared the spotlight, it's generally a sign of trouble because the real thing is a world apart.
Still, while folks will focus on his dunks and his 3-pointers _ and he provided both against Memphis _ the ease with which the 6-3 Smith took the 6-10 Jarell Martin to the hoop for a layup was remarkable.
Smith received some nice help in the final 90 seconds when Yogi Ferrell launched a 3 from the corner and a two from the key to secure the win as the Mavericks shot 48.6 percent which, for them in 2017-18, qualifies as a clinic.
First, to be fair, I should mention that no one simply gave Dallas that early 37-18 lead. With shooting and defending we had not seen along with four first-quarter steals, the Mavs grabbed that lead against a Memphis team whose 3-0 record included wins over Golden State and Houston.
The Grizzlies came firing back as expected, keeping their deficit in single digits most of the second half and trimming it to three in the mid-fourth quarter. But Smith Jr. scored 14 of his 19 points in the second half to lead Dallas, as head coach Rick Carlisle had said, into "the left column."
Of course, there are loads of early aberrations in an NBA season unless you think the Brooklyn Nets beating the Cleveland Cavaliers Wednesday night means something. And the biggest aberration in the Mavs' 0-4 stumble out of the gate was their shooting.
All five Mavs that started the opener _ Harrison Barnes, Dirk Nowitzki, Wesley Matthews, Yogi Ferrell and rookie Smith _ were below 40 percent from the field entering Wednesday's game. Dirk was lowest of the group at 30.4 percent.
That sort of thing couldn't last forever ... but there was a sense it might last just long enough for the Mavs' season to start and finish simultaneously as it did a year ago with their 4-17 start.
The cloud that remains after the victory is the one that hovers over Nowitzki. He has been slow to work his way into seasons before, so no alarm bells are ringing, but let's be fair. It's his 20th professional season. Kobe Bryant did more damage to the Lakers than opponents with his shooting in his final season.
Nowitzki didn't have a bad night against Memphis, but his 13 points included an 0-for-3 stroke from 3-point range. And once again Carlisle did not have Nowitzki on the floor in the final minutes when the game was being decided.
That may just mean it's October. Or it may mean it's that time in Dirk's magical career.
Carlisle had been vocal about the Mavs' awful rebounding in the first four losses. It's nothing new exactly although being outrebounded by 51 for four nights seems like a lot.
So he started Nerlens Noel, the team's leading rebounder who had been limited to 18 minutes in the first four contests. But Noel ruined his chances of being a major contributor by drawing three fouls in the first four minutes of the third quarter. Still, Dallas was only outboarded by one, and I think Carlisle will take that on a nightly basis.
Now for the next fun experiment?
Beat the same team on its home floor Thursday night.
Stay tuned. And see how the teenager looks in his first back-to-back experience against the Grizzlies' Mike Conley.
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