Seth Curry ends week-long streak of missed 3-pointers, provides spark for Mavs’ win over Raptors

Luka Doncic drove into the lane and fired a no-look pass to the perimeter, where Seth Curry and Maxi Kleber, for reasons unknown, were standing side-by-side.

Either player could have caught Doncic’s offering, but it was Curry who reached out, like a wide receiver, and practically snatched the basketball from Kleber. In a fluid motion, Curry raised up and knocked down a three-pointer.

Though it was just one shot, a mere 4:14 into the Mavericks’ 110-102 victory over Toronto Saturday night at American Airlines Center, the sequence symbolized the first month of Curry’s return to the Mavericks, after one season in Portland.

Curry, starting his fourth straight game, scored 15 points on a night in which Mavericks had six players score in double figures and largely won with a staunch second-half defense that translated to opportunistic offense.

“In today’s game, I think 25-point quarters are benchmark for a good defensive quarter,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. “We had three of them, against a team that is a bit depleted but is still a high-level team. It was a great sign of progress.”

The Mavericks (7-5), coming off their second loss to the 3-win Knicks in six days and carrying in their first losing streak of the season, got 26 points and 15 rebounds from Luka Doncic, and 20 points and 15 rebounds from Kristaps Porzingis.

The defending NBA champion Raptors (8-4), playing the fifth and last game of a road trip and playing without Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka, led 60-53 at halftime, but were held to 17 third-quarter points by Dallas’ scrambling defense. Maxi Kleber helped hold Raptors leading scorer Paschal Siakam to 6-of-24 shooting.

The Mavericks led 98-84 with 5:14 left, but the Raptors pulled within 102-100 before Doncic spun into the lane for a layup with 1:49 left, then Curry made a pair of free-throws to extend the lead to six.

So scarce have been Curry’s shooting opportunities, and so prolonged was his 3-point drought, that his eagerness to grab Doncic’s early game was understandable.

That particular 3-pointer broke a streak of 11 straight missed treys by Curry, dating to the first quarter of last Saturday’s win at Memphis.

“I loved Curry’s game tonight,” Carlisle said. “Loved it. Love his intensity on defense. His mere presence on the floor creates problems for teams because, similar to guys like K.P. and Luka, great shooters are guarded so closely that it opens up space for teammates.

“Even on nights when he doesn’t get a lot of shots, he’s contributing heavily to what we’re trying to do on offense. His shot-making (Saturday) was timely when he got some good looks.”

Which has been the more unsettling early season trend when it comes to Curry, the Mavericks’ most significant free-agent addition, a player to whom Dallas gave a four-year, $32 million contract?

Is it the fact that Curry, who was the NBA’s third-most accurate 3-pointer shooter (45%) last season in Portland, entered Saturday night shooting just 33.3% on 3-pointers this season? Or is it the fact that Dallas hasn’t found a way to get him a better quality and volume of 3-point attempts?

“We’re looking to get him more better shots,” Carlisle said.

“They guard him very closely because he’s a great shooter; he’s an historically great shooter if you look at his career,” Carlisle added. “We’re working on getting everybody better shots.”

When the Mavericks signed Curry, it was logical to believe that getting him quality 3-point looks would not be an issue. After all, in many cases, Dallas figured to put Curry on the court at the same time as Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis.

With three very premium spacers on the court, and with one of them being an elite penetrator, Doncic, Porzingis and Curry figured to help one another. At least one of them figured to be open at any given time, right?

Yet through 11 games, during the 72:16 that Doncic, Porzingis and Curry were on the court at the same time, Dallas had been outscored by seven points. Not terrible, but far from offensively prolific, either.

Saturday’s game marked Curry’s fifth start in the last six games and eighth of the season. He wore neon orange shoes. Perhaps they helped get his teammates’ attention. By halftime had squeezed off four shot attempts, all 3-pointers, making two.

Last season in Portland, the Blazers were 23-1 in games that Curry scored 10 or more points. This season Curry has reached double-digits five times. Dallas is 4-1 in those games.

In the first of the two losses to the Knicks, Curry actually played 12:42 without a shot attempt.

Last Saturday’s Memphis game, a game that Porzingis sat out on the second night of a back-to-back, produced Curry’s best moments of the season — but they proved fleeting.

He started and made three of his first four shot attempts, all 3-pointers. During one 52-second stretch he drained three 3-pointers.

He scored a season-high 16 points that night. But, starting late in that first quarter, he missed his last three 3-point attempts, then went 0-4 against both Boston and New York, producing the drought that he finally ended Saturday at American Airlines Center.

That’s not good enough for a player who is being paid $7.5 million this season to primarily shoot 3-pointers. But with Saturday being a rare exception Mavericks also haven’t been getting him enough attempts for him to develop a rhythm.

Homestand: Saturday marked the start of a four-game homestand against teams that have combined to win the last six NBA championships.

Of course, Toronto, San Antonio, Golden State and Cleveland don’t have the same rosters won those titles. None of the finals MVPs of those teams are still with that team, including San Antonio and Toronto both losing Kawhi Leonard.

“This is a tough homestand,” Carlisle said. “We’ll find out a lot. I don’t know, exactly, what it will tell me or us, but the opportunity to compete at home in front of your fans, on a Saturday night, is a big deal. It’s a big opportunity.”