The Warriors needed 29 points from Kevin Durant and a career-high 23 from Jonas Jerebko to beat a feisty Mavs squad.
Kevin Durant’s legacy with the Golden State Warriors has been defined by a couple of big wing threes in big moments and he hit another from that familiar spot tonight against the Dallas Mavericks.
The stakes weren’t nearly as high as his more famous moments from the past two NBA Finals, of course, but Durant’s three with 14.2 second left on the clock sealed a hard-fought yet somewhat ragged 120-116 win for the Warriors at Oracle Arena.
Durant scored a game-high 29 points for the Warriors, capped off with that clutch three late in the game. But the biggest surprise — and really the clear choice for some Warrior Wonder attention — was Jonas Jerebko, who scored a career-high 23 points off the bench that included 18 in the second half.
Jerebko added a team-high four offensive rebounds as well, which paid dividends for the team.
Wes Matthews led the Mavs with 25 points while rookie Luka Doncic finished with 19. Doncic actually led the Mavs with a 14 of his 19 points at halftime, all of which came in the first quarter and included 3-for-6 shooting from the 3-point line. It was an impressive start for the rookie who seems to prove his draft day doubters wrong every game. Yet he only scored five points the rest of the way.
Perhaps surprisingly, the Warriors managed to win the offensive rebounding battle in the first half. Unfortunately, the Mavs doubled the Warriors’ points in the paint, 32-16 and took a 61-58 lead into halftime that they couldn’t hold onto.
The Warriors will turn around and immediately face the Los Angeles Clippers tomorrow evening at Oracle Arena at the same time, 5:30 p.m. PST.