DALLAS, TEXAS — One word that comes to mind after the Mavericks loss to the Hornets on Wednesday night is mystery? The Mavericks have played in 4 regular season games thus far and the Mavericks to some degree lack identity. Dallas’s approach has been focused on defense, but there are other inconsistencies the Mavericks have faced.
Last night was no different. The Mavericks started the game at a solid pace. Dallas did mostly everything they did in their historical win in the early parts of the first quarter. Dallas interrupted passing lanes, created turnover opportunities, rebounded the basketball and converted a high clip of shots from the field. This was the winning formula for the Mavericks just days ago and helped paved the way to secure their first win of the season, but consistency is important and the Mavericks have struggled to have that level of consistency needed game in and game out.
Dallas held the lead for a large portion of the first quarter, and out performed the Hornets in every metric except 3 point percentage, but what continues to haunt this team is giving up the lead before the second quarter. In 3 out of 4 games to begin the season the Mavericks have only held the lead once going into the second quarter, and each of those games have resulted in a loss.
Getting into early foul trouble played a role in the Mavericks giving up the lead. Luka committed his second foul at a time the game was close and Dallas needed to separate and earned his third personal foul of the night in the second quarter. Josh Richardson and Dorian Finney-Smith also got into foul trouble early forcing Rick Carlisle to sit the 3 starters. Tim Hardaway led the Mavericks in scoring the second quarter scoring 11 points and hitting all of his shot attempts, but didn’t receive the contribution from the bench with the Mavericks only scoring 7 bench points in the second quarter.
The story of the second quarter was rebounding or lack thereof. The Mavericks were outrebounded in total rebounds 22-17 and offensive rebounding 7-4. Dallas’s bench was also outscored by the Hornet bench 30-23 led by Miles Bridges who scored 11 points, Lamelo Ball who scored 8 points, and Jalen McDaniels who scored 6 points. All three combined shot 50% from the field. This allowed the Hornets to increase their lead from a 5 point margin to an 11 point margin by halftime.
If you have watched the Mavericks this season you know bench scoring and not securing rebounds is what is attributed to the Mavericks losses in Los Angeles and Phoenix.
In the third quarter the Hornets had an offensive explosion hitting 55% of their shots from the field and 50% from beyond the arc. Terry Rozier and Devonte Graham led the Hornets in scoring and the Hornets outrebounded the Mavericks again in the third quarter.
For Dallas the scoring blues continued. The Hornets outscored Dallas by 30-12, and the Mavericks only shot 17% from the field and only 6% from three point range. By the end of the third, Charlotte increased their lead from 11 points at half to a 29 point lead and continued to dominate beating the Mavericks 118-99.
In comparison to their last game against the Clippers where the entire team finished the night with plus performances, the Mavericks entire starting lineup for the second time this season turned in a minus performance.
It’s not panic time yet in Dallas, but the slow start to the season isn’t the most encouraging sign. This team has plenty of room to grow, and these early losses will help this team continue to build the continuity it desires. Plus, most teams have struggled because of the condensed offseason and lack of prep time.
One of the things we know about Rick Carlisle and his team is that they are a resilient group of players and a slow start won’t stop them from building. Another thing that could help change the trajectory for Dallas is that they have a unicorn who could potentially see some action in January which will address some of their concerns in the rebounding and scoring department.
