The Dallas Mavericks picked up an 118-113 win over the Miami Heat on Thursday as they head into the All-Star break with a 30-26 record. Both teams were resting some players and had some big pieces out with Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, Daniel Gafford, P.J. Washington, Dereck Lively II, Bam Adebayo, Andrew Wiggins, and more all out.
For Dallas to run out a starting lineup of Dante Exum, Spencer Dinwiddie, Max Christie, Olivier-Maxence Prosper, and Kessler Edwards and still come away with a win in a game where Tyler Herro put up 40 points is nothing short of impressive. Hopefully, the Mavs can get healthy coming out of the All-Star break next week, but it may be a little while before the centers return.
Here are three takeaways from Thursday's win.
1. Jaden Hardy is unplayable
Jaden Hardy had a stretch in late December where he looked like he was worth the contract extension the Mavericks handed him before the season. Since suffering a second sprained ankle, he's been terrible, and Thursday night was no exception. Hardy had just two points on 0/8 shooting from the floor and 0/4 from three. In the last six games that he's played, which include a 21-point outburst at Cleveland when he was basically the only healthy guard available, he's averaging 5.5 PPG while shooting 12/38 (31.6%) from the floor and 5/22 (22.7%) from three. It's no surprise he was a DNP-CD for three straight games recently.
2. Will Dallas find an upgrade over Kylor Kelley?
Dallas has zero quality centers on the roster right now, as Anthony Davis, Dereck Lively II, Daniel Gafford, and Dwight Powell are all injured and will be out for the foreseeable future. Kylor Kelley, the only center on the roster, is signed to a two-way contract but can still hardly touch the floor when Dallas just needs someone to play center. He only played a little more than two minutes on Thursday night. Nico Harrison may need to find a different two-way player because Jason Kidd clearly doesn't trust Kelley.
3. Kessler Edwards small-ball five is actually fun
Kessler Edwards will be playing a lot of small-ball center over the next few weeks until some centers get healthy, and he's never played center in his life. But he's not half bad at it. He's solid defensively with quick and active hands, and while his offense comes and goes, that's not what he's there for. As he gains more confidence in his new role, it'll help him out down the stretch. Going 3/4 from three-point range and scoring 15 points in Thursday's win will help with that.
