{"id":619335,"date":"2026-02-23T06:33:52","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T06:33:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/619335\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T06:33:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T06:33:52","slug":"player-grades-recapping-mavericks-vs-pacers-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/619335\/","title":{"rendered":"Player Grades: Recapping Mavericks vs. Pacers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dallas Mavericks<\/a> broke their ten-game losing streak Sunday night, with a 134-130 win<\/a> over the Indiana Pacers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get to the grades!<\/p>\n

Naji Marshall: B+17 PTS \/ 2 REB \/ 2 AST \/ 1 STL \/ 0 BLK \u2013 26 MIN<\/p>\n

Marshall was back to his old ways, hitting 7-for-10 from the floor in a highly efficient outing despite limited minutes. Two turnovers wasn\u2019t terrible, but relative to only two assists, it stands out. Also, Marshall\u2019s rebounding totals of late have been on the lower end, though playing out of the point guard spot in this one probably didn\u2019t help that cause.<\/p>\n

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Max Christie: B16 PTS \/ 2 REB \/ 4 AST \/ 0 STL \/ 0 BLK \u2013 31 MIN<\/p>\n

Christie joined Marshall with some hot shooting of his own (6-for-11; 2-for-4 from deep). His assist total helped his grade, but three turnovers and three fouls did not. Nice solid game overall.<\/p>\n

P.J. Washington: A-23 PTS \/ 9 REB \/ 2 AST \/ 1 STL \/ 1 BLK \u2013 37 MIN<\/p>\n

Washington must have had whatever Marshall had for breakfast, because he too looked like his best self after a sting of \u201cmeh\u201d games. Hitting 8-for-14 from the floor was good enough to make him the second highest scorer for the Mavs. He took care of the ball and played solid defense.<\/p>\n

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Khris Middleton: A+25 PTS \/ 7 REB \/ 7 AST \/ 1 STL \/ 0 BLK \u2013 33 MIN<\/p>\n

Aside from foul personal fouls, Middleton was across-the-board fantastic. He shot a ridiculous 11-for-15, including 3-for-5 from downtown, for a season-high in points. He led the team in scoring and led the team in assists (tied with Brandon Williams). He also took a clutch charge late in the fourth quarter, and if you\u2019ve been reading long enough you know how positively that single act impacts a grade. Somewhat more seriously though, it was at a pivotal moment in the fourth quarter. Middleton really played a complete game and it\u2019s doubtful Dallas wins without his performance.<\/p>\n

Daniel Gafford: B-8 PTS \/ 6 REB \/ 2 AST \/ 1 STL \/ 0 BLK \u2013 22 MIN<\/p>\n

Gafford was solid, but one can\u2019t help but wonder if he couldn\u2019t provide similar production off the bench at this point. As the starting center, you would think he could be racking up double-doubles, or at least close. Had it not been for 3-for-7 shooting, he easily could have been in double-figure scoring at least. He had the best plus\/minus of all the starters with a plus-10, to help boost his grade.<\/p>\n

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Brandon Williams: B+15 PTS \/ 1 REB \/ 7 AST \/ 2 STL \/ 1 BLK \u2013 22 MIN<\/p>\n

Williams has been doing work lately. He is staying within himself and putting together solid games again and again. His two turnovers can be forgiven next to his team-leading seven assists (tied with Middleton). He led the team in plus-minus with a plus-15.<\/p>\n

Marvin Bagley: A+12 PTS \/ 11 REB \/ 1 AST \/ 1 STL \/ 0 BLK \u2013 26 MIN<\/p>\n

It\u2019s safe to say I am firmly on the Bagley bandwagon. I debated this grade a bit, however landed with top marks similar to his last outing, as he all but replicated that performance. It\u2019s still a small sample size, but Bagley has obviously outplayed Gafford over the last few games, making the center position a thing of interest.<\/p>\n

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Final thoughts<\/p>\n

This was a fun game and a much needed win. Without Cooper Flagg, Middleton took on the starring role, with plenty of help from Washington, Marshall and Bagley. Dallas inexplicably has one of (if not the) best three point defenses based on percentage allowed, yet to the naked eye they consistently appear to be either disinterested or incapable of stopping the long ball. Indiana hit nine more threes than Dallas, yet Dallas persisted and found a way.<\/p>\n

I invite you to follow me @_80MPH<\/a> on X, and check back often at Mavs Moneyball<\/a> for all the latest on the Dallas Mavericks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas Mavericks broke their ten-game losing streak Sunday night, with a 134-130 win over the Indiana Pacers.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3774],"tags":[20309,7,10823,225,149,2619,568,113,126,3866,2039,1022,7139,5989,6,114,59567,682],"class_list":["post-619335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-indiana-pacers","tag-ast","tag-basketball","tag-brandon-williams","tag-cooper-flagg","tag-dallas-mavericks","tag-daniel-gafford","tag-getty-images","tag-indiana","tag-indiana-pacers","tag-indianapacers","tag-khris-middleton","tag-marvin-bagley","tag-max-christie","tag-naji-marshall","tag-nba","tag-pacers","tag-reb","tag-washington"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116118556858820276","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}