The Dallas Mavericks faced off against the Minnesota Timberwolves on the second night of a back-to-back on Monday. Playing on the road has been something of a rare occurrence thus far and they were not
greeted kindly, losing 120-96 at the Target Center.
Let’s get to the grades!
Brandon Williams: B-
15 PTS / 5 REB / 2 AST / 1 STL / 1 BLK – 24 MIN
In what will be a theme throughout, Williams (4-of-12 from the field) could not shoot, though he contributed bits here and there in other facets of the game. To his credit, he plays hard all the time and does bring a dynamic to the Mavs that they really don’t otherwise have. Williams hit all six of his free throws, so there’s that, but in a way, that says a lot about a really rough outing for Dallas. His chase-down block on Rob Dillingham’s transition attempts in the second quarter bumps him up from what would otherwise be a “C” effort.
Max Christie: D
1 PTS / 0 REB / 1 AST / 0 STL / 0 BLK – 19 MIN
Christie’s night was not actually disastrous as much as it was non-existent. There is no intended pot shot meant in that assessment, but the simple truth is he had virtually zero involvement and contributed quite literally almost nothing. When your stat line is binary code, things have either gone very well, or very poorly, and for Christie it was the latter.
Cooper Flagg: C
15 PTS / 1 REB / 2 AST / 0 STL / 0 BLK – 27 MIN
Flagg was the brightest shooting Mav on the night, took care of the ball and generally played well in terms of decision making. His near complete lack of rebounds is puzzling, and his plus-minus was frankly, horrific.
P.J. Washington: B+
13 PTS / 7 REB / 2 AST / 1 STL / 0 BLK – 25 MIN
Washington was the best player for Dallas. While that says little in a game like this, he at least did a bit of everything and produced arguably the best Mav performance in a game where there were few very good ones.
Moussa Cisse: B+
5 PTS / 10 REB / 0 AST / 1 STL / 2 BLK – 26 MIN
Cisse came back down to earth, bricking four of his six shot attempts. That said, he still had himself a pretty nice game in terms of (much needed) rebounds and “stocks.” He was also a little less of a hack machine than he has been recently, which is notable against the likes of Naz Reid and Rudy Gobert. A career-high mark in rebounds is good for bonus points.
D’Angelo Russell: D
8 PTS / 2 REB / 5 AST / 0 STL / 0 BLK – 22 MIN
Russell hit his shots at a decent clip, aside from those he took beyond the arc, but like most of the bench players, had little impact on a game that was over early. His relatively hot shooting, coming on the heels of some early-season struggles in that department, was not enough to save his grade from four turnovers.
Naji Marshall: C-
7 PTS / 3 REB / 0 AST / 1 STL / 0 BLK – 23 MIN
Marshall was quiet and could not find his shot from anywhere. Inside the arc, beyond the arc, the free throw line, you name it.
Klay Thompson: D
7 PTS / 0 REB / 0 AST / 2 STL / 0 BLK – 17 MIN
Thompson has taken on a unique position in our Grades pieces. He has been at or near the very bottom of the grade sheet a lot recently. He’s just on the struggle bus right now — perhaps as bad as he ever has been. It’s not all his fault, given the construction of the team, but it’s gotten really bad for Thompson this year.
Final Thoughts
The Mavs were without both Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively on the second night of a back-to-back, with the former nursing a fresh ankle injury and the latter getting some load management. While their absence may not have changed the outcome, they likely would have made the game at least slightly more competitive. Aside from the final score, I chose one statistical category at random to exemplify the lopsidedness of this game. Early in the fourth quarter, with the Wolves already past the century mark, the Mavs were being outrebounded 45-32.
The game was a byproduct of the Mavs being undermanned and exhausted and it showed. There were a few nice plays, including Brandon Williams’ chase-down block in the second quarter, when the diminutive former two-way guard did his best Gafford impersonation. But they came too few and too far between on Monday.
I invite you to follow me @_80MPH on X, and check back often at Mavs Moneyball for all the latest on the Dallas Mavericks.
