Although the Dallas Mavericks' fourth-quarter rally came up just short on Monday night against the Miami Heat, rising star rookie guard Dennis Smith Jr. of the Mavs had quite an impressive play. It came at the expense of Heat guard Josh Richardson in the fourth quarter.
With just under three minutes to go in regulation and the Mavs down nine points, Smith Jr. put a nifty crossover move on Josh Richardson out near the three-point line. The rookie guard out of North Carolina State then attacked the paint and threw down a thunderous two-handed dunk.
A video of the beastly slam, which was posted on Twitter to the official SportsCenter account on Monday, can be viewed below:
Dennis Smith Jr.'s crossover + dunk is a thing of beauty. #SCtop10 pic.twitter.com/FJugm3TNs5
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 30, 2018
Unfortunately for Dennis Smith Jr. and the Mavericks, who trailed by as many as 18 points in the game, they were only able to get within three points with under one minute left. Dallas went on to fall to Miami, 95-88, which was the Mavs' seventh loss in their last eight games.
In a postgame interview with Fox Sports Southwest, Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle spoke about the team's fourth-quarter comeback that came up just short.
“We've got to play like that the whole game. We're not doing it at the beginning,” coach Carlisle said after the game. “Working, I guess you could say, on it from the standpoint of film work and stuff, there's not a lot of time for practice right now so there's got to be a mindset. I know we're going to do better on Wednesday. I'm pretty upbeat about a lot of things, but I don't think you make a living in this league off moral victories.”
Although he did not shoot the ball entirely well on the night, Smith Jr. had a double-double. He finished with 14 points on 4-of-17 shots from the field, a game-high 10 assists, and two rebounds.
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