-RotoWire-

Bouncing back from a rough performance in THE TIPOFF playoffs, Mavs Gaming ran through Raptors Uprising Gaming Club on their way to a 75-53 win on Saturday.

With both the Mavs and Raptors taking identical archetypes for each player into this game, conventional wisdom would have dictated that this be a close matchup. Early on, that was somewhat true. While Mavs Gaming had control over the game from the start, Raptors managed to keep it close early on. Entering the second quarter down 19-10, Raptors went on a 5-0 run to bring themselves within just four points of the Mavs with some nice ball movement and defense. Seemingly out of nowhere, however, Mavs Gaming exploded and never looked back.

Led by point guard Dimez and center Dayfri on the offensive end, Mavs Gaming went on a 15-4 run to end the half, which effectively put the Raptors on their heels for good. While the Mavs hit shot after shot, finishing the half shooting 64 percent from the field, the Raptors were forced into consistently poor looks that left them with 42 percent shooting at the half. Perhaps even more impressively, Mavs only attempted three shots from beyond the arc in the half, making all three. The damage was mainly done in the paint where Raptors Uprising simply had no answer.

The second half was no different, as the Mavs only dipped below a 20-point advantage for less than a minute in the third quarter. While scoring was an issue for the Raptors, it was the inability to rebound and move the ball that ultimately hurt their chances at victory as they were outrebounded 24-to-17 and registered 12 assists to the 26 of Mavs. Without any rebound control, Raptors Uprising were left without an opportunity to even get points on the board, and once they did get the ball, the stifling defense of Mavs Gaming prevented any sort of ball movement from Raptors Uprising. Toronto, who have now won just a single game in four tries this season, will need to work on getting more of the team involved or risk falling behind in the standings early on this season.