Even graded on a curve, the Dallas Mavericks’ 101-99 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday at American Airlines Center was a particularly ugly one. Dallas (2-6) shot just 6-of-22 (27.3%) from the floor
in the first quarter. They shot 2-for-12 in the paint through the first quarter and a half of the game. They turned the ball over seven times in the fourth quarter, as the lead see-sawed back and forth four times down the stretch. It was the live-ball turnovers that sunk the Mavericks against one of the worst teams in the NBA on Wednesday.
New Orleans forward Saddiq Bey led the Pelicans (2-6) with 22 points and nine rebounds in the win, which came on the second night of a back-to-back set and without the services of Zion Williamson. And this game was basically decided in the first eight minutes of the game. How can this happen?
The Mavericks are taking their lumps right now, and Wednesday’s game was particularly lumpy and misshapen. Here is how the Mavericks graded out individually in a rough loss that only looks rougher and rougher the more you examine it.
Max Christie: B
12 PTS / 3 REB / 1 AST / 1 STL — 27 MIN
Kormac Karl “Max” Christie hit the Mavs’ first field goal of the game, ending a scoreless stretch of 3:38 to begin the game that saw the Mavs brick their first nine field goal attempts. He connected on a tough floater in the lane four minutes into the second quarter to keep the Mavericks within 34-27 on what was turning into a dismal offensive performance among so many dismal offensive performances to open the season.
Christie got into double-figure scoring as the Mavericks made some headway early in the third. His second 3-pointer of the game came from the right wing and put the Mavs up 64-59 with 7:19 left in the third. A minute later, his transition finish helped the Mavs cling to the lead, up 66-64.
Cooper Flagg: A-
20 PTS / 9 REB / 2 AST / 3 STL / 2 BLK – 35 MIN
Cooper Flagg was the brightest bright spot for the Mavs on an otherwise dark day. He turned the ball over on a bad pass to the corner five minutes into the game, but then blocked Trey Murphy III’s long 3-point attempt less than a minute later before finding an open D’Angelo Russell at the break for his first 3-pointer of the game. Late in the first, he finished an electrifying and-1 alley-oop from Naji Marshall in transition over the outstretched arms of Karlo Matković to bring Dallas to within 24-18. Extra points are awarded for Flagg’s primal scream and flex after posterizing Matković, too.
Flagg raised up for a pull-up 3-pointer along the right wing early in the second to keep Dallas within striking distance, down just 33-25 at the time. He dropped in another sweet finger roll over Murphy III in transition with 1:30 left before halftime as Dallas came alive late in the second.
He crammed home another driving jam through the teeth of the Pels’ defense late in the third quarter after he collected his third steal of the game a couple of minutes earlier in the frame. He made a bunch of athletic highlight plays on both ends of the court as New Orleans took a 78-77 lead into the fourth quarter. Flagg made a determined drive over Herb Jones with 7:30 left to play and finished through contact with his left hand to tie the game, 86-86. The Mavs’ next bucket was another Flagg left-handed finish through traffic, but it came two minutes later as the Pels went on a little mini-run in the time between them.
Unfortunately, Flagg capped an otherwise brilliant game with a missed pull-up that could have been a game-winner. It went off the back of the rim, as did the Mavs’ chances of a win against one of the worst teams in the league.
D’Angelo Russell: C-
9 PTS / 3 AST / 1 BLK – 21 MIN
In his first start of the year, Russell hit his first 3-point attempt midway through the first quarter after rimming out on his first three shot attempts as the Mavs got off to another sluggish start. Russell’s second 3-point make of the game gave Dallas its first lead of the game, up 58-57 with 8:55 left in the third quarter as part of a little 9-0 run.
He committed a bad foul on Jones’ drive with seven minutes left to play before throwing the ball away on the ensuing Mavs’ possession after the 3-point play. Jeremiah Fears finished on the other end to compound the back-to-back boneheaded errors as the Pelicans took a 92-86 lead midway through the fourth. He was not inspiring in running the Mavs’ offense on Wednesday.
P.J. Washington: B
15 PTS / 11 REB / 1 AST / 1 STL / 2 BLK – 38 MIN
P.J. Washington missed his first four shot attempts of the game before making tough and-1 buckets on back-to-back possessions midway through the second quarter. His third potential 3-point play of the quarter came on a downhill bullrush to the basket through rookie Jeremiah Fears. He missed the free throw, but the offensive rebound bounced his way and he slammed it home over Derik Queen, another interesting Pelicans’ rookie, for his ninth and 10th points of the second quarter. He was an absolute demon in the second quarter, bringing the Mavs to within 42-39 with 3:45 left to play before halftime.
He knocked down his first 3-pointer of the game early in the third to bring the Mavs within two, down 57-55 with 9:13 left in the frame. He completed his double-double two minutes earlier by pulling down his 10th rebound of the game. His second blocked shot of the game early in the fourth was a highlight swat of a Jordan Hawkins drive that kept the Mavericks within one point down just 82-81 with 10 minutes left to play.
Washington turned the ball over on Queen’s steal with four minutes and change left to play, which resulted in a Herb Jones transition basket to extend New Orleans’ late lead to 96-88. He wasn’t nearly as impactful in the second half as he was in the first. He turned the ball over four times in the loss.
Daniel Gafford: B+
15 PTS / 8 REB /2 STL / 2 BLK – 25 MIN
Daniel Gafford handed the ball off to Herb Jones instead of to Klay Thompson early in the second quarter, then failed to give chase in transition, resulting in one of many easy buckets for the Pelicans on the night. He was a non-factor for most of the first half before collecting a few tough buckets underneath late in the second quarter and early in the third.
Gafford blocked two shots early in the third, including one rejection of Fears that he threw into next week with 8:37 left in the frame. He gathered and scored inside on a post entry pass from Thompson to give the Mavericks a 79-78 lead on the team’s first possession of the fourth. His 3-point play on a broken play inside with 3 minutes left brought the Mavs back to within 96-93. He hit three big free throws down the stretch but lost hold of a would-be steal with 1:18 to play that would have been a big play in clutch time. He hit another big bucket inside with 31 seconds to play, and fouled Queen on the other end with 11 seconds remaining. Queen made just one of two free throws, giving Dallas a chance for a game-winner after a timeout with 9.8 seconds left in the game.
Klay Thompson: C+
11 PTS / 4 REB / 3 AST / 1 STL – 21 MIN
Coming off the bench is just the most obvious play for Thompson — if only he and Jason Kidd could see eye to eye on that fact in the long term. He gave a pump fake and escape dribble for his first 3-pointer of the year to bring the Mavs to within 18-10 with 4:23 left in the first quarter. Then he hit an 18-footer a minute later to bring the Mavs to within 18-12. He found Brandon Williams open at the left break the next time down for a 3-pointer that made it 21-15, so he was making the most of his minutes early on, which is much more than we could say for all those minutes as a member of the starting lineup through the team’s first seven games.
He hit another 3-ball on the Mavs’ first possession of the second quarter, but was quiet for most of the rest of the second half. His ill-timed turnover in the corner with 2:28 left to play was one of many opportunities to pull out a win that went by the wayside on Wednesday.
Naji Marshall: C
7 PTS / 5 REB / 5 AST / 1 STL – x26 MIN
Naji Marshall was also there. He seems to be having a hard time finding his fit with this iteration of the Mavericks after having a career year in 2024-25. Marshall lost Saddiq Bey along the baseline on a play with 1:10 to play that put the Pelicans up 98-95.
Jaden Hardy: C-
0 PTS / 1 REB — 9 MIN
Jaden Hardy missed his first four attempts of the game, but that never discourages him from taking the next four, does it?
Brandon Williams: B-
10 PTS / 1 REB / 3 AST / 2 STL – 19 MIN
Brandon Williams sliced through the New Orleans defense on a couple of nifty drives during the Mavs’ surge late in the second quarter. His driving scoop brought Dallas to within 50-49 with 34 seconds left in the second, and the Mavs went into the break down 52-49.
Williams scored eight points in 10 first-half minutes before taking a hard fall on a drive with a minute left before halftime. He was late joining the team for the second half after receiving treatment in the training room and turned the ball over on his first touch of the third quarter. He scored over Matković on a short fadeaway coming out of a timeout when the Mavs needed a bucket after New Orleans had retaken the lead late in the third.
