Dallas Mavericks: Top 10 moments from 2017-18 NBA season

1. Smith Jr. self-alley punctuates victory over Portland

The Dallas Mavericks won one game in the final month of the season and it came in a tough victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on April 3. Wins came at a premium, but that didn’t stop Dennis Smith Jr. from giving Damian Lillard all he could handle before the postseason.

Portland entered its game against Dallas winning four of the last five contests. Dallas, on the other hand, had lost three games in a row. Smith went for 18 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and two steals to give the Mavericks their final victory of the 2017-18 season.

Damian Lillard still had 29 points, but 15 of them came from the free throw line. He was 15-of-15 from the charity stripe, but just 6-for-20 from the field.

The punctuation mark came towards the end of the game, where, in a close affair, Smith bounced an alley-oop to himself. He wasn’t fazed by the moment as the Mavericks went on to win 115-109 for win No. 24 of the year.

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All five of the Mavs’ starters finished the game scoring in double figures. They won every quarter after finishing the first quarter in a 22 all tie. It iwa something to build on for next year for the Mavericks, that’s for sure.