Mavericks' Kidd praises Kemba's 'incredible' 32-point effort vs. Cavaliers
Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd praised veteran point guard Kemba Walker for his 32-point performance against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday.
"We trust Kemba with the ball late and early," Kidd said, according to Dallas Basketball's Grant Afseth. "He played an incredible game for us. Hopefully, he can build on this, and we build with him being able to get him minutes with the starting group and the guys that come off the bench."
Walker led the Mavericks in scoring with 32 points on 12-for-25 shooting, adding seven assists, five rebounds, and a block across 41 minutes in an eventual 100-99 overtime loss. It was the 32-year-old's highest scoring total since a 44-point outing with the New York Knicks last December.
"I felt pretty good," Walker said, according to Callie Caplan of the Dallas Morning News. "We’ll see how I'm feeling tomorrow. It's been a long time. Yeah, it felt really good out there."
The Mavericks were without primary ball-handlers Luka Doncic and Spencer Dinwiddie against the Cavaliers due to respective quad and knee injuries.
When asked about more playing time with Doncic, Walker said he would love to see action alongside the 23-year-old phenom.
"Who doesn't want to play with that kid? He's special," Walker told Caplan.
Dallas signed Walker as a free agent at the end of November after the Detroit Pistons bought him out in October.