“I was just getting good shots; guys were finding me, setting good screens and that was it,” said Dallas Mavericks guard Seth Curry of his game and team-high 23 points.
On their first night back on the court in over four months, Seth Curry proved Rick Carlise right. “He’s a historically elite shooter,” the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks said earlier this week.
In just under 16 minutes of action, Curry scored a game and team-high 23 points. He finished a perfect 8-of-8 from the field and 6-of-6 from 3-point range to lead the Mavericks past the Los Angeles Lakers, 108-104 in both teams’ first Orlando Bubble scrimmage.
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Per Mavs PR, through seven NBA scrimmages, which began Wednesday, Curry’s 23 points stand as the most scored by a player thus far.
It was a night when he simply couldn’t miss.
“It feels good. I was getting good shots really,” he explained. “Every shot I got was something I worked on and something I felt like I should make. Nothing too crazy.
“I was just getting good shots; guys were finding me, setting good screens and that was it. Hopefully, this continues.”
Luka Doncic was the only other starter in double figures with 14 points, six assists and five rebounds.
The Mavs bench performed well and took advantage of a second half that saw no LeBron James or Anthony Davis for the Lakers. Boban Marjanovic finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds, followed by Justin Jackson with 13 points and Maxi Kleber with 10 points.
“I thought overall there were a lot of good things. Two areas that hurt us, we made a lot of turnovers and we fouled a lot,” said Rick Carlisle post-game. “Those are two areas we will look to improve going into our next game against Indiana.”
Carlisle credited Curry’s overall conditioning with his monster game tonight.
“He’s one of the guys who really was conscientious during the hiatus. He was working out at home on a very consistent basis,” Carlisle said. “He was riding the bike and lifting and doing those kinds of things and when the individual work started he was very serious about that.
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“When you build that kind of a base, you have a real chance to get something going,” Carlisle continued. “So as the season came to a hiatus point, he was just getting in his groove. It’s not an accident that he’s shooting the ball as well as he is.
“He works at it and more importantly, he has worked at the base of his conditioning and everything else leading up to this point.”
The Mavs came out of the gate fast thanks to 3, 3-pointers from Curry. They quickly jumped out to a 19-14 lead. But the James and Davis show began, coupled with a couple of key shots from Dion Waiters and the Mavs went into the second quarter 29-22 after missing six of their final seven shots.
The second quarter didn’t get any better. James scored 12 points and tallied five assists while David scored 12 points and 2 steals and the Mavs went into halftime down 55-44.
The third quarter Mavs, which many fans are familiar with from before the League suspension, showed up as both Curry and Kleber, found their sweet spots and led the team to a 3-point lead, 77-74, as the fourth quarter started.
The Lakers tried to stage a comeback but were unsuccessful and the Mavs prevailed.
Javale McGee led all Lakers scorers with 13 pts. Quinn Cook had 13 points off the bench.
The Mavs continue scrimmage play on Sunday, July 26th when they will face Victor Oladipo and the Indiana Pacers at 3 p.m. on NBA-TV.