Following their infuriating loss to a short-handed Sacramento Kings on Monday night, the Mavericks badly needed to respond with a W on Tuesday night in San Francisco. After the Portland Trail Blazers won earlier in the night, the pressure was on Dallas to get a win in order to maintain the sixth seed in the tight Western Conference standings. My, oh my did the the Mavericks respond to the pressure with a dominant 133-103 win on Tuesday night.

Historic run to break out in front in the first half 
There was a time midway through the first quarter where the Warriors led the Mavericks 12-11. Dallas was a little bothered by that, so they went on a 28-0 run to establish a nice little 39-12 lead before the Warriors made their next shot one minute into the second quarter.

The Mavericks went on a 28-0 scoring run tonight, which is now the longest unanswered points run by any @NBA team this season (prev. 23 by LAC, 1/3).

Tonight’s 28-0 run was also the longest for the Mavericks in the last 20 seasons (prev. 26-0 at HOU, 11/25/09).

h/t @EliasSports pic.twitter.com/EdYCjO0TY0

— Mavs PR (@MavsPR) April 28, 2021

As the tweet from Mavs PR states above, runs like that don’t come around every night, every season, or even every decade since they hadn’t had one like that since 2009 when Luka Doncic was just 10-years-old.

Just like last night’s loss, this huge win is just one game 
As much as we might want to jump to enormous conclusions with the highs of a blowout win on the road against another team in a heated playoff race or with the lows of the second loss to a struggling, short-handed Kings team within eight days like last night, one regular season game is likely not going to drastically alter your season’s outlook.

Monday night’s loss in Sacramento was horrible. That doesn’t mean player X is terrible or Rick Carlisle should be fired on the team plane. Tonight’s huge win is great. That doesn’t mean virtually any of this team’s glaring issues are solved.

Ultimately, these two games are pretty good examples of what exactly this team has turned out to be this season: A playoff-caliber team that can beat anyone or be beat anyone on any given night. It often creates some very perplexing scenarios as a follower of the team.

Blowout provides an opportunity for lessened minutes 
On the second night of a back-to-back after fighting until the final buzzer on Monday night, the Mavericks players certainly needed a chance to play a bit less minutes if the team could help it.

Doncic played 28 minutes on the night, down from 38 on Monday, and did not play in the fourth quarter. Even without playing in the fourth, he still managed to put up 39 points on 15-23 shooting. Wow. Tim Hardaway Jr., Jalen Brunson and Dwight Powell all played less than 20 minutes on the night.

Rookies Josh Green, Tyler Bey and Nate Hinton all got the chance to get some extended run in the second half of the fourth quarter.

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The Mavericks will continue a road trip with a game in Detroit on Thursday against the Pistons. Tip-off is set for 6 PM.