NBA 2018-19: 3 Takeaways from Dallas Mavericks' win over Portland Trailblazers

#3 Portland's poor three-point shooting

Portland Trail Blazers v Washington Wizards

The Dallas Mavericks have drastically increased their defensive effort on this eight-game win streak, and it showed once again tonight as they smothered the Blazers stars and ran them off the three-point line as much as possible.

Dallas held Portland to only 29% shooting from beyond the arc with star guard duo failing to find any consistency from three-point land with Damian Lillard only scoring two of eight threes, while C.J McCollum only shot slightly better at two of seven.

Only allowing seven of 24 three-pointers shows the importance of Dallas' defense has the Trailblazers have been one of the better three-point shooting teams in the past seasons. Their struggle from behind the arc as affected their results over the past month and will need to find their groove if they are to look to hold on to the pack that is beginning to break away at the top of the Western Conference.