On Wednesday in Houston, Tari Eason shoved P.J. Washington to the court in the first quarter and was ejected for it, and the Mavericks still lost by 18. Washington finished that night with 10 points, four rebounds and a minus-27.
Friday in Indianapolis looked nothing like it. Washington had 20 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots, and Dallas beat the Indiana Pacers 121-105 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse to give Dusty May his first win as an NBA coach. The Mavericks never trailed.
"A huge night for us," Washington said, according to the Mavericks' team site. "We played like we wanted it tonight and that's how we got to play the rest of the season."
He shot 6 of 11 from the field, 2 of 4 from 3-point range and 6 of 8 at the line in 33 minutes. Ten of his rebounds came on the defensive end.
May tied Friday's response directly to Wednesday. "He gave us some physicality the other night and that ignited a run for them," the coach said of Eason, per the team site. "I thought tonight our guys not only matched it, but they channeled it in the right way."
Three shots that never got there
Washington's blocks came at very different moments. The first came on the last possession of the first half, when he got a hand on an Aaron Nesmith 3-point attempt to keep the score at 77-43. The second turned away a Pascal Siakam fadeaway early in the fourth quarter with Dallas up 98-78.
The third, on a Tyrese Haliburton floater with 5:31 left, came with the margin still at 20.
The defense around him held. Indiana made 7 of 32 from deep, and Dallas finished with 11 blocks and 10 steals and turned 21 Pacers turnovers into 31 points, according to the ESPN box score.
Offensively, Washington hit a 25-foot 3-pointer early in the first quarter as Dallas built a 44-point opening period, and another from 26 feet off a Daniel Gafford pass late in the second. In the third quarter he scored on a layup from Max Christie, then grabbed an offensive rebound moments later and dunked it.
His driving dunk off a Zaccharie Risacher feed with 2:05 left made it 118-103.
