DALLAS — Kenny Atkinson believes in numbers, and in the case of Allen Crabbe, believed that the numbers didn't lie. Even as Crabbe's scoring slump creeped up on the one-month mark of the season, Atkinson was comfortable and confident that a player who began the season with a career 39-percent 3-point shooting percentage, who finished second in the NBA in 3-point shooting percentage two seasons ago, had not suddenly forgotten how to shoot the basketball.
"I trust him," said Atkinson a week ago. "I love him as a player."
He said that before the Nets hosted the Miami Heat at Barclays Center and Crabbe made his first start of the season, stepping in for the injured Caris LeVert. The injury to LeVert, the loss of his 18.4 points per game, brought a little more focus to Crabbe's shooting struggles. There was a little more urgency, a little more need, for the 6-foot-6 swingman to get going.
And piece by piece over the last week, he did exactly that, building up to Wednesday night's huge performance against the Dallas Mavericks. Crabbe made threes early, he made them late, and when he was done he had a season-high 27 points with seven 3-pointers.
"Huge. You could feel it coming too these past couple games," said Atkinson. "Even though he didn't make every shot tonight, he was fantastic. I still think he's hesitating too much. We need him to shoot five more times a game. So hopefully he's woken up and is in his groove now."
In his first four games in the starting lineup, Crabbe connected on 38 percent of his threes, but scored in double figures just once. Add in Wednesday night's 7-for-11 and Crabbe is now shooting 46.8 percent from deep over his last five games.
"I know what I'm capable of," said Crabbe. "I know what I can do. Me going through those struggles had nothing to do with skill set or anything like that. I just felt like, thinking too much, pressing too much. I wasn't letting the game come to me. I wasn't letting it flow. Last couple games I felt like I've been getting a rhythm."
Against the Mavericks, Crabbe started off by making his first two attempts in the opening minutes, much as he did against the Clippers on Saturday. This time, he kept it rolling right on through.
By halftime, Crabbe had 13 points in 13 minutes, making three of his first five 3-point attempts and shooting 5-for-8 overall. After a two-point third quarter, he went wild in the fourth.
With the Nets down 95-87, Crabbe scored 12 straight Brooklyn points on four straight 3-pointers, bringing the Nets within 103-99. His surge made it possible for the Nets to get within a basket moments later on a Jarrett Allen dunk before the Mavericks pulled away.
At that point, Crabbe was 7-for-9 on threes on the way to his 7-for-11 and 10-for-16 overall.
"It felt good," said Crabbe. "It was a struggle the first 18 games. Probably felt like I was solid maybe two of those 18. It feels good. Like I told you the other night, I've been shooting and it'll click. I've been doing all the things I needed to do, extra shots after practice, going to optional shootarounds. I knew if I stuck with the process, things would start clicking for me."