HOUSTON, TEXAS — Sitting at 2-4 in the early parts of the season is not where the Mavericks thought they would be. After losing against the Bulls on Sunday night they will play their 3rd game in 4 days against their rival the Houston Rockets tonight. Dallas has one of the tougher schedules in the NBA this season starting the season on a 3 game road trip, and hasn’t had the greatest start to their second 3 game road trip of the season.
The Mavericks are now 1-3 on the road and hope to improve their win total in Houston, and will have to face a quick turnaround while doing so.
Last night the Mavericks were not at full force after Rick Carlisle announced Luka Doncic was scratched from the starting lineup to nurse a lower quad contusion in his left leg. Carlisle has stated the injury is not a “long term” thing, and the Mavericks will monitor Luka’s progress day to day. Today Doncic was listed as probable for their game against Houston tonight, and Kristaps Porzingis is still out but could be closer to returning than what was originally thought.
Even in defeat, there was a silver lining. Jalen Brunson stepped up in Doncic’s absence and led the Mavericks in scoring with 31 points, in 37 minutes of play and made a few key assists. Rick Carlisle has stated that Brunson has been great for the Mavericks when called to fill in, but like the Dallas coach has expressed it’s about the team in general and how well the other players perform when the stars are out.
The Mavericks bench outscored the Bulls bench 39-28, but didn’t help the Mavericks grab the W. The players who held the highest stakes in that total were Maxi Kleber with 16 points, Willie Cauley-Stein with 8 points, Trey Burke with 7 points, Boban Marjonovic with 6 points, and James Johnson with 2 points and combined to shoot 52% from the field. But turnovers, missing from beyond the arc, and not capitalizing on second chance points put the Mavericks behind the eight ball.
Tonight, regardless if Luka plays or not, other players on this team will need to step up in order to beat their in-state rival the Houston Rockets.
Houston has won the last 12 out of 15 meetings and the Mavericks and the Rockets split the season series last year. After a somewhat tumultuous offseason, the Rockets are sitting at 2-2 winning their last two games against the Sacramento Kings. James Harden was not available for their second win in Sacramento where the Rockets won by 8 points increasing their margin of victory against the Kings by 5 points, but he will be available tonight. So far James Harden has averaged 37 points in the three games he has played this season.
The last time these two teams played it was a firework show. James Harden almost hit the 50 point mark and Kristaps Porzingis led the Mavericks in scoring with 39 points and 16 rebounds. The last time Luka faced the Rockets he put up 41 points and tabulated 10 assists.
The turnaround may be tough, and the Mavericks aren’t making any excuses about their schedule. As Rick Carlisle said so eloquently yesterday “We got to play the schedule out, and bitching about it isn’t going to do us any good, we have to have a good attitude about it and go down there and compete our butts off.”
