The Dallas Mavericks are rolling through December so far as they have won 12 of their last 14 games, and they are looking even stronger than the team that reached the NBA Finals last season.
Dallas' big run didn't happen until the end of the year last season, and everything is starting to fall into place much earlier this season. It doesn't look like Dallas will have to make a blockbuster trade at the deadline to gear up for the final stretch of the season like they have in years past, and a big reason for their success lately has been the electric shooting of Klay Thompson.
Thompson finished with 29 points while shooting 7-11 from beyond the arc, and this was his best game of the season. He was getting amazing shots off the catch, and scoring off the dribble as well, and he has finally cemented a bold proclamation that he made earlier this season.
Klay Thompson's bold words are aging beautifully
At the end of last month, Thompson promised that it just takes one big game for him to get going, and that has been especially true recently. He hadn't been playing extremely well in the games leading up to the game in which he said this, and he has been on a roll recently.
"I’ll have some really big nights here in the future, I can feel it," Thompson said after a win over the New Orleans Pelicans on November 19. 'It just takes one great explosive night for me to get rolling."
Thompson's big game that he needed was just over a week ago against the Toronto Raptors, and he couldn't be stopped. He finished with 20 points while shooting 8-16 from the field, and this effective performance from him set the table for him over the past two games.
Thompson followed that game against Toronto with a 19-point performance against the Oklahoma City Thunder, and his hot shooting from last week's game against the Thunder carried into the game against the Warriors. He was right about it only taking one big game to get into the flow of things, and he has proved that through his play recently.
He has consistently been a knockdown shooter over the last few games, and his off-ball gravity has been working wonders for the Mavs all season long. Thompson doesn't need to light it up from downtown at all times to make an impact, and his spectacular 3-point shooting recently has made the Mavs even more deadly.
Defenses can never leave him open, and if last night's game was a sign of things to come, the rest of the NBA will be in trouble. Defenses won't be able to stop Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, and Thompson when they are playing that well offensively, and the Mavs hanging 143 points on the No. 6 defense in the NBA is a remarkable achievement.
Thompson is putting the league on notice that he can still be an elite sharpshooter when the volume is there, and his take from earlier in the year is materializing beautifully in front of Mavericks fans' eyes.
