Mavs Gaming grabs statement win against Pistons GT

This one was a statement game for Mavs Gaming.

After a close loss to Cavs Legion GC last week, Mavs Gaming turned the page and headed to New York determined to get back on the right track. And they were greeted at the hotel by a trash-talking Pistons team.

“They were doing some chirping in the hotel saying they were going to beat us,” Dimez said. “I told them I’m not going to do much talking but if we beat you guys I am going to go crazy.”

In fact, according to some of the players on Mavs Gaming, this same Pistons team had been talking trash for the past couple weeks. They were very confident in their ability to beat Dallas when presented the opportunity.

For Dimez, the game meant a little more heading into it because of his past with Lets Get It Ramo, or better known as just “Ramo”.

“I met him in 2011,” Dimez said. “This was high school. I want to say I was 16 or 17.”

“We both were top 100 in the MyCrew era… we played against each other and then we teamed up,” Dimez continued. “I have been playing with him since. We have made a lot of money together and a lot of championships. We ran 2K… still to this day, we have never lost a 2v2 tournament.”

But it was time to put past allegiances aside. It was time for both teams to square off. Both teams took their chairs and the starting lineups took the court. Except something was different for Mavs Gaming.

HazzaUK2K was at center and Dayfri at power forward. At small forward, JLB started in place of Devillon. The lineup change threw Detroit off from the very start.

“They didn’t expect it at all,” JLB said. “Three of them ran to the bathroom after the introduction.”

“I asked Ramo if they were already nervous,” Dimez added.

Once Detroit settled back down, it was time for tip-off and Dallas took off. The first quarter was a decently even battle as Dallas took an eight-point lead into the second. It was then that Mavs Gaming took charge of the whole game.

Dallas would outscore Detroit 19-9 in the second quarter and took a 41-23 lead into halftime.

“It was big,” Dayfri said on the lineup change with JLB. “His defense is phenomenal and he doesn’t miss. He played big and rebounds for us.”

“It was time to get him back in the lineup. That was our third-round pick,” Dimez said of JLB. “He rebounds so good at the 3. For some reason at the 3, he gets down there and bangs.”

For JLB himself, it was something brand-new.

“I was playing small forward in practice,” JLB said. “This week was the first time I played it. I never played it before.”

The onslaught would continue in the third quarter where the Mavs would outscore the Pistons by seven points with a late 3 by Seem to end the quarter. For a team like the Pistons that had built their foundation on defense, Dallas had 62 points through three quarters.

Up by over 30 points for the majority of the fourth quarter, Dallas was soaking in the victory against the over-confident Pistons team. If you looked closely, Mavs Gaming would even slap the side of their chairs after big plays. This wasn’t just a random celebration style.

“That is the stuff they do,” Dayfri said. “Their coach runs behind them and starts slapping their chairs. That is their thing.”

“We had the mindset of let’s slap some chairs this game,” Dimez added.

Mavs Gaming would go on to win the game by 35 points with a final score of 88-53.

“That game was personal for me and for a lot of guys,” head coach Jonah Edwards said.

All five starters for Mavs Gaming would finish with double-figures in scoring and three of them (Dimez, Dayfri and Seem) would finish with 20 points or more. One of the more impressive team stats was their turnovers. Mavs Gaming would finish the game with just three turnovers as a team and only one through three quarters.

It was something that Mavs Gaming had focused on earlier in the week and it paid off over the weekend.

Even though JLB replaced Devillon in the starting unit this week, Devillon took the opportunity to be another coach on the sideline. Edwards went out of his way to praise Devillon on Monday for the role he played as the sixth man. He cited multiple times that Devillon would share his input mid-game with Edwards on things he noticed. It definitely impressed the coaching staff.

As for Dimez, it was one of his best games of the season. He would finish with 24 points, 18 assists, and four steals on 11-of-14 shooting. And yes, he remembers the trash talk from before the game.

“Their point guard said he was going to lock me up,” Dimez said. “I boxed him up and dropped him off.”

To the average fan, continuing to pound an opponent during a blowout might seem unsportsmanlike, but it is important to remember the rules of the game and the league.

“Point differential is a tiebreaker in this league,” Edwards said. If teams have identical records heading into the next tournament, the official seeding is based of the point differential between the teams.

Heading into the weekend, Mavs Gaming had the exact same record as 76ers Gaming. But since Philadelphia had around a +40 point differential, 76ers held the second spot in the league.

With Mavs Gaming beating the Pistons by 35 points this week, the point differential is now cut to just four points.  Pretty much, if Dallas and Philadelphia both win this upcoming weekend, Dallas would need to beat their opponent by five points more than what Philadelphia beats their opponent by.

Long story short, the more you beat your opponent by the better.

Mavs Gaming now heads into week seven with their sights set on Wizards District Gaming. A new rotation has been formed and things are starting to click; now it is time to take care of business.

You can watch Mavs Gaming take on Wizards District Gaming on Saturday, June 30 at 12 p.m. CT on twitch.tv/mavsgg.