The Dallas Mavericks were beaten by the New Orleans Pelicans, 101-99 Wednesday night in Dallas.
Cooper Flagg led Dallas in scoring with 20 points, but his 8-for-19 shooting night, including a missed jumper
at the free-throw line with a chance to tie the game at the buzzer, makes that something more akin to a pyrrhic scoring night.
For New Orleans, it was scoring by committee, with six players scoring in double digits, led by Saddiq Bey with 22.
Not only did the Pelicans get their first win of the season last night against the Charlotte Hornets, but now, after besting Dallas, they’re on their first win streak! A sad reality for a Dallas team that, if certain individuals in the front office were to be believed, is built to win a championship RIGHT NOW.
The game started on a bad foot, with Dallas going 0-for-7 to open the game and immediately falling into a 9-0 hole. They mustered only 19 points in a first quarter that didn’t have much in the way of positives.
Dallas would battle back in the second, led in large part by PJ Washington Jr’s 10 points in the quarter, and those 10 points were bigger than the sum of its parts. When Dallas couldn’t get anything going offensively, PJ putting his head down and earning three different and-1 opportunities gave the impression that he might just have what it took to put the Mavericks on his back and drag them kicking and screaming to competitiveness.
Things stayed close, all the way to clutch time in the fourth, but then, when typically the team that just played 24 hours ago would start to fade, the Pelicans put their foot on the gas, erased the small Mav lead Dallas carried into the quarter, and did just enough to pull out the victory.
The offense is BAD bad
This isn’t breaking news, but the Mavericks’ struggle against the Pelicans, minus Zion, feels like something of a rock bottom. This is a New Orleans team that ranks above only the winless Nets in defensive rating, playing on the road on the second night of a back-to-back. And Dallas couldn’t muster more than 99 points.
Jason Kidd must know he’s got to try something, as demonstrated by moving Klay Thompson to the bench in favor of starting D’Angelo Russell. While having an actual guard on the floor was a welcome change, it didn’t do much to give Dallas any kind of offense connectivity. On top of that, the turnover issue remains, with the Mavs coughing up the ball 15 times tonight, including seven in the game-deciding fourth quarter, which ultimately spelled doom for Dallas and dropped them to 2-6 on the season.
It’s bad enough that it feels disingenuous to say that this is something that can be fixed by the return of Anthony Davis or Dereck Lively. Even adding Kyrie Irving isn’t going to be a fix-all for what ails Dallas. There’s something fundamentally broken about this team’s inability to put the ball in the bucket. And I truly hate that I’m being forced to agree with Kevin Durant, but to be a good team, you need to be able to put the ball in the bucket. No amount of “defense wins championships” mentality is going to fix only putting up 99 points a night.
PJ Washington the professional
PJ Washington’s 15 points were important, especially his load-bearing effort in the second quarter, and his 11 rebounds came up big as well, easing the load on Daniel Gafford, Dallas’ lone healthy rotation big. (Gafford, who, by the way, contributed 15 points of his own.)
It wasn’t just the scoring, though. Washington also led Dallas in minutes, with 38. With Dallas missing three starters and minutes that need to be covered by competent, winning players for Dallas to have a chance night in and night out, PJ stepping up and playing in a way that gave the Mavericks a shot is all you can ask. Were this Mavs team the kind of team that had a true go-to number one option, Washington’s second quarter effort would’ve been just enough to buoy the team before handing the baton off to someone capable of being their engine.
Dallas is in a tough spot because not only do they not have a player like that on the roster, they also haven’t shown that they can play with enough of a cohesive offensive mentality to share the burden of putting points on the board.
Cooper Flaggs’ dunk contest application
Cooper Flagg’s rookie season has been interesting if for no other reason than you never quite know what you’re going to see from him on a game-to-game basis. On the one hand, a little consistency would be nice, but let’s not get overly nitpicky about the first 10 games of his rookie season. He’s had good shooting games, bad shooting games, blocks, steals, but his assault on the rim tonight just had that dunk contest power and flair to it, especially on the receiving end of a Naji Marshall alley-oop late in the first quarter.
Watching Flagg exhibit a new aspect of his game and how he’s adapting to NBA life has been one of the few bright spots for Dallas so far this season. With how things have gone so far, by the time the All-Star Break hits, a dunk contest title might be the only title Dallas has any hope of bringing home this season.
