Naji Marshall’s 22 leads Mavericks to 120-101 rout of Nets in Anthony Davis’ return

NEW YORK (AP) – Naji Marshall scored 22 points off the bench to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 120-101 rout of the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night.

P.J. Washington and Spencer Dinwiddie finished with 16 each, Brandon Williams scored 15 and Kai Jones added 13. Anthony Davis, in his first game back after missing six weeks with a groin injury, had 12 points in 27 minutes.

Brooklyn dropped to 23-49 with its fourth straight loss. Nic Claxton led the Nets with 19 points.

Mavericks: For a team that is in a neck-and-neck race with Phoenix for the final Western Conference play-in spot, Dallas believes that the reinsertion of Davis – among others – can provide a boost. “We understand what´s at stake here,” coach Jason Kidd said before the game. “We got to figure out how to win.”

Nets: With three weeks remaining, coach Jordi Fernandez wants his team to use the final 11 games of the season to work on in-game execution. “We have to control (in order) to (have) one more possession,” Fernandez said before the game. “I think winning teams take care of those possessions.”

Dallas guard Spencer Dinwiddie knocked down a left corner 3, and then assisted on buckets by Marshall and Jones in a 26-second span midway through the third quarter that allowed the Mavericks to extend their lead to 75-56.

Brooklyn entered the game ninth in the NBA in 3-pointers attempted per game (39.1) and 29th in 3-pointers made per game (34.5). Against the Mavericks, the Nets made 11 of their 33 attempts from beyond the arc.

The Mavericks play the Knicks on Tuesday night. Brooklyn hosts Toronto on Wednesday.

A wire-to-wire loss brings us one step closer to the most anticipated part of this season: next season.

Another day brings us closer to the end of the season.

Perhaps it’s the madness of March in the air, with potential franchise-saviors playing wall-to-wall on national television, as the Brooklyn Nets near their first lottery selection since Derrick Favors, but more likely, this is just a 23-48 season nearing completion.

The Dallas Mavericks were nearly guaranteed to hand Brooklyn their 49th loss of the season when the laughingstock of the 2024-25 NBA season announced Anthony Davis would be making his return from a six-week absence on Monday night. Why, who knows? According to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, even Davis’ confidants have urged him not to return this season.

But hey, the Brooklyn Nets weren’t about to question it, not amid their intense tank-off with the Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors.

Of course, that’s not how Head Coach Jordi Fernández viewed it pregame: “Obviously, with the return of a very special player, it’s good for us, good to figure out how to have different coverages executed and give ourselves a chance. We want to keep growing, we want to compete. We’ll go out there and fight against anybody and that’s the most important thing, from where we’re coming.”

Certainly, Brooklyn has been fighting. Though Fernández’s team is just 2-8 in their last ten games, all eight losses have been by single-digits. And in a few of them, they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

But on Monday night, that juice wasn’t there. It’s not like they didn’t try, but thanks to a big, bouncy front-court of Davis and Kai Jones, Dallas shot a preposterous 69.6% from two. The Nets looked overmatched out the gate…

They trailed 32-17 after the first quarter, and never cut it to single-digits again.

There were pockets of momentum, but each one was cut off by one of Brooklyn’s 19 turnovers. Dallas would score 31 points off turnovers, with Brooklyn scoring just 14. Between a porous half-court defense and their own 3-point shooting struggles, it was far too much to overcome, and thus, turned into a comfortable loss.

Season-long themes continued, though. Cam Johnson’s improvement remains staggering; we saw flashes of aggression and downhill scoring as far back as the 2023 playoffs — remember that dunk on Joel Embiid? — but to consistently create offense as a secondary option seemed impossible.

No longer. Johnson’s final stat-line won’t wow, as he put up 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting, but some of the buckets did…

He also contributed to Brooklyn’s turnover woes with six of his own, but also tossed eight assists, a much-needed career-high with D’Angelo Russell missing another game.

“I’m comfortable putting the ball in his hands,” said Fernández. “And I think we’ve done it the whole year, and he’s done a great job for the group … He’s done an amazing job the whole year, whether he had to shoot more threes, or put the ball on the floor, play-make more, get to the free-throw line. So he’s just been, he’s been amazing for the group.”

Is Johnson a long-term piece? Well, that depends on what Brooklyn’s long-term plans look like. But if nothing else, it’s a win for a player-development team who will soon see much more on their plate.

Trendon Watford also continued his strong play as of late, posting 12/1/14 off the bench on 5-of-9 shooting. He handled the ball on the perimeter in Russell’s stead, but more often posted up with strong results…