In their season opener, the Dallas Mavericks lost to the Memphis Grizzlies by a score of 121-116. For an exhibition it was a pretty entertaining game. Both teams played at a high level offensively and the game flowed pleasantly back and forth.

Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson and others were all ruled out before the game, so this performance wasn’t very indicative of the Mavericks team that will take the floor this year. Still, there were some great performances from other Maverick rotation players and fringe roster candidates. Dereck Lively II looked great, new additions Naji Marshall and Quentin Grimes showed their versatility, and some young talent showed potential.

Although this was a loss, it was an encouraging game for the Mavericks in many ways. Here are three numbers that stand out from this one.

19: Steals for the Mavericks as a team

19 steals for a team in a single game is an insane feat. As our fearless editor Josh Bowe pointed out on Twitter, that’s a lot of bargain! To illustrate, the New Orleans Pelicans led the NBA in steals last season with 8.8 per game. Tonight Dallas had more than twice as many! Does it mean something? Hard to say. Four steals came from Jazian Gortman, a player who likely won’t be on the roster. Spencer Dinwiddie, Jaden Hardy and Olivier Maxence-Prosper each had three steals. This feels more or less like a statistical oddity (good thing for O-Max, though). Dereck Lively II had two bargains, and that makes sense because he’s great.

So all in all, I don’t think this unusually high number of steals means the Mavericks will force a lot more turnovers this year or lead the league in steals or anything. It was just a crazy, funny thing that happened in a crazy preseason game.

4: “Oh My God” Moments from Dereck Lively II

The Mavericks’ second-year big man scored 12 points on 5 of 5 shooting in just 14 minutes of play. He added two steals and two assists and looked incredible on the floor. The biggest highlight of Lively’s night was a surreal dribble that started in the halfcourt; Lively ran coast-to-coast, did a spin move on the lane and finished an and-one. It was the kind of play that seems impossible for a player like Lively. But then again, this kid continues to surprise everyone with how quickly he develops his game. Lively also did a great job of clearing Jake LaRavia on the perimeter, forcing him to give up the ball late in the game. Later, Lively threw down a tomahawk transition dunk after several dribbles. On the next possession, he followed up with an alley-oop dunk from Dinwiddie. And to cap off his off night, he reset a smaller defender and hit a nice jump hook into the paint. It appears Lively has been working on improving his offensive game in the offseason, a scary proposition for the rest of the league.

10: Together 3 p.m. for Jaden Hardy and Jazian Gortman

Hardy shot 6 of 10 from beyond the line and Gortman shot 4 of 7 himself at the training camp invite. Both players had really good games for Dallas and it was especially encouraging to see Hardy thrive. Even though he continues to have problems from two-point range (0-6 tonight), Hardy’s long-range shooting is a real asset. He also showed some improved playmaking skills tonight, providing nine assists on four turnovers. It was a nice performance.

Gortman had a decent Summer League with Dallas and the 1.80 meter tall guard is fighting with all his might for a place in the NBA. Tonight he gave everything he had on the court and finished the game with 19 points on 7 of 13 shooting. The shot looked good and Gortman played with admirable tenacity. I don’t know if he’ll end up earning a two-way spot, but this performance at least put him on the NBA radar.

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