Dallas usually struggles to keep pace with Cleveland's star power. But not this time.
The Cleveland Cavaliers came into Sunday having recorded seven straight wins over the lowly Dallas Mavs, so predicting a 130-120 Sunday matinee road triumph for Dallas - a complete flip of what happened to these two teams on Friday at the AAC - seemed preposterous.
After all, following that blowout Mavs loss, Dallas coach Jason Kidd evaluated the matchup by saying, “That’s a tough matchup.”
In a Dallas season full of underwhelming Mavs-related stuff, that seemed like an understatement. ...
Except for a moment in time on Sunday.
Dallas pulled off a shocking ... victory over a real contender.
How shocking?
Kidd’s view is that the Cavs (41-27 and fourth in the NBA East standings) are when healthy “a contender and they can come out of the East” and land in the NBA Finals.
Yet the Mavs crept up to 23-45 as “Organic Tanking” on the way to better NBA Draft Lottery odds didn't quite take here.
The Mavericks - still buried near the basement in the No. 12 spot in the NBA West standings - hadn’t beaten the Cavaliers since March 30, 2022. And fast-forwarding to the present? Dallas was going downhill fast, coming in having lost nine of the last 10 games and 19 of the last 22.
But hey, this was kind of fun.
The Mavs’ foundational hope for the future, 19-year-old NBA Rookie of the Year candidate Cooper Flagg, had 27 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and two blocks.
And his efforts were good enough in terms of keeping up with Cavs star Donovan Mitchell (26 points) and his new sidekick, recent trade-get James Harden (only 13 points).
Cleveland had been 10-3 with the just-acquired Harden on the team.
After the Friday game, Kidd called Harden “one of the best players in the world.”
That’s true. But on this day, when it comes to the “under-everything” Mavs? They're the ones who at least briefly get to feel like a world-beater.