The Dallas Mavericks (22-45) complete their season series with the Cleveland Cavaliers (41-26) Sunday with an early 2:30pm CST tipoff at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. The two teams met Friday with Cleveland routing the Mavericks at American Airlines Center, 138-105. Cavs center Evan Mobley led all scorers with 29 points on 12-15 shooting, while the Mavericks were led by Cooper Flagg’s 25, as he emerged from an injury-related slump with a monster third quarter.
For the Mavericks, Friday’s game ended
a one-game winning streak that was scarcely 24 hours old as they beat Memphis the night before, 120-112, ending an eight-game skid. For Cleveland, a won Sunday would equal their longest win streak since Feb. 20, as a tough run of the schedule including the Thunder, Celtics, Knicks, Pistons, Magic, and 76ers ended a win streak that reached seven games as the team brought aboard guard James Harden in a trade Feb. 3. While the team hasn’t yet replicated the wins from that honeymoon period, Harden’s time meshing with his new teammates looks promising as Cleveland gears for a deep playoff run.
The Cavaliers, who treated much of Friday’s matchup in Dallas as a tune-up game as they determine their playoff rotation and build chemistry with Harden, will bring a deeper roster to Sunday’s game as center Jarrett Allen and wing Max Strus plan to return from knee and foot injuries.
Game of inches
The Mavericks, for whom perimeter defense is already a nightly liability, were also without much size Friday to counter the Cavs’ relentless attacks at the rim. Forward PJ Washington and centers Daniel Gafford and Moussa Cisse were all unavailable, as frontcourts anchored by Marvin Bagley III and Dwight Powell got torched for 72 paint points achieved through a dazzling array of methods. Guard Donovan Mitchell got to his spots at will, making 10 of 12 two-pointers, while Harden and Mobley seemingly found a breakthrough building the pick-and-roll rapport that has proven elusive in their six weeks so far as teammates. Against the Mavericks, Harden and Mobley each seemed to speed things up with Harden attacking earlier off screens and Mobley rolling much harder to the basket, and the yield was lobs, pocket passes, and finishes with an easy rhythm as Harden was able to get Mobley switched onto guards and strike.
Allen, a more conventional kind of screener and roller than Mobley, is already a match for Harden’s style of play, with the 21.5 points per game he has averaged playing with Harden (not counting the game Allen left with injury against Detroit March 3) raising his season scoring average to 15.3. If the Mavericks offer the kind of resistance at the rim that was on display Friday (Washington, Gafford, and Cisse are all day-to-day), expect Harden to use this game as a laboratory to synthesize Allen’s and Mobley’s natural abilities, waiting a beat longer to accelerate around Allen’s hard screens, and finding the versatile Mobley further from the basket more often.
Welcome wagon
Max Strus also returns for Cleveland against the Mavericks; on Feb, 27, 2024 he caught fire late against a very different Mavericks club, connecting on five three-pointers in the game’s final five minutes, including the game-winner- a 60’ heave on a last-second inbounds that closed it with the Cavs up 121-119. Strus, a starter in 37 of the 50 games he has played this year, joins a wing core that had things humming against the Mavericks Friday, as Keon Ellis hit three of his five three-pointers in his first start for Cleveland and Plano native Jaylon Tyson made two of his three. The team was nearly as effective shooting beyond the arc, making 18 of 38, as it was in the paint.
How not to repeat history
While Flagg’s brilliant second half and Naji Marshall’s return to form Friday gave Mavericks fans something to cheer for besides the team’s draft lottery chances, there were not many other bright spots, as jumping out to an early two-bucket lead in the game’s opening minutes doesn’t qualify as a bright spot given what followed. In the game’s second quarter, in which the Mavericks actually played the Cavs to a 29-29 tie, eight Maverick turnovers led to 13 Cleveland points. Dallas went on to cough it up 17 times in the game overall, and although Ryan Nembhard’s 9-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio counts as a bright spot, the undersized Mavs backcourt’s inability to stop Harden and Mitchell made for bright spots for quite a few folks wearing wine and gold.
While the Mavericks will probably run some different lineups at the Cavs, the most likely result will be another early night on the bench for Harden, Mitchell, and Co., while the Mavericks get another long look at forwards Thomas Bryant and Nae’Qwan Tomlin, who combined to go seven-for-seven on two-point attempts. Winning is still the objective for this hard-playing Mavericks team, but its fans can be forgiven for quietly rooting for another strong Coop performance and no lost ground in the “other” standings if things go sideways as rapidly as they did Friday.
How to watch/listen
You can watch the game on NBA TV, KFAA Channel 29, or MAVS TV (streaming), or listen at 97.1FM KEGL (English), and 99.1FM KFZO (español).
