Huge P.J. Washington turnaround works wonders for Mavericks in win over Wolves

It was a hectic contest on Wednesday night in Minnesota, as the Dallas Mavericks outlasted the Minnesota Timberwolves by a score of 120-114 in a game that featured a tremendous amount of bumps, bruises, and stoppages of play. Both Daniel Gafford and Luka Doncic got hurt in the first half of the game, only for both of them to return shortly after getting injured.

Even Timberwolves players were slipping and sliding all over the place, as the physicality in this contest mirrored how physical it was when these two squads played in the Western Conference Finals against each other last season.

Kyrie Irving had a huge fourth quarter performance and finished with 35 points on the night, as Irving’s prolific display of shotmaking from outside and poise down the stretch was unmatched. This was unfortunately yet another game in which Luka Doncic shot the ball poorly from the field, as Doncic shot a rough 10-27 in the evening.

However, Doncic made some crucial plays down the stretch to help Dallas carry this game home, including a really deep step-back 3-pointer late in the game to help seal this victory for the Mavericks.

P.J. Washington's shooting was a huge reason Mavs beat Minnesota

Dallas’ role players were just as vital in helping win this game, as Quentin Grimes and P.J. Washington made timely shots from outside all night, and Naji Marshall stepped up with the game-sealing steal on Anthony Edwards.

Washington’s shotmaking was one of the more defining reasons as to why Dallas won this game, especially since he’s struggled shooting the ball this season in the three games before this. Washington was 3-16 from outside on the season heading into this game despite showcasing his versatility as a defender, rebounder, and a slasher very handily in Dallas’ first three games.

Those three attributes stuck in this game versus Minnesota, but Washington going 3-6 from 3-point range and looking confident in his stroke from outside made this Dallas’ offense even more lethal than it has previously been this season.

Washington finished with 17 points in the evening and continued to showcase how dynamic of a cutter and transition finisher he is as well, with plays such as his alley-oop finish off of a half-court Doncic pass late in the game being emblematic of how his evening went.

Washington is proving that he can make plays like that on a gamely basis for this Mavericks team, but if he can continue to shoot the ball with this sort of consistency, then it will take this Dallas offense to an untapped level.

When Dallas traded for Washington a little over eight months ago, the most burning question fans had in regard to Washington fitting in with this Mavericks squad was his ability to shoot efficiently enough from outside. Washington had his fair share of struggles late last season in that department but turned around that notion with some electric shooting performances in high-intensity playoff games for Dallas last season.

Washington worked tirelessly on his shot all offseason long, so perhaps his first three games of this season will prove to be an outlier here in a few weeks, though he’ll need to sprinkle in more performances like he had tonight for that to be definitive.