The Dallas Mavericks lost at home Saturday night in their preseason game against the Charlotte Hornets. Miles Bridges and LaMelo ball each had 20 for the Hornets. Klay Thompson led Dallas with 14 points
in defeat.
The Mavericks looked groggy and sloppy in the opening minutes, surrendering a barrage of threes and baskets to the Hornets. Dallas trailed by as many as 17 in the frame before finding a bit of pride; a pair of Naji Marshall free throws and a Max Christie three brought the team to life as they started to close the gap. With star Anthony Davis getting a rest, the offense and defense came to life. A buzzer-beater from PJ Washington pulled Dallas within three to close out the quarter with the Mavericks down 34-31.
The Cooper Flagg show opened the second quarter; after a quiet scoring first period, the rookie buried a three, then hammered home a dunk, and followed that up with a pull up over LaMelo Ball to give Dallas a four point early lead. The Hornets didn’t stay down for long and the teams battled for the lead during the middle minutes of the period. Charlotte eventually inched ahead and held a five point lead for the remaining minutes only for Klay Thompson to nail a three, sending the two teams into halftime. Dallas trailed 61-59.
Things got out of hand for Dallas early in the third. The Mavericks’ defense simplywasn’t there, as the Hornets attacked and Dallas looked sluggish again. After a flagrant foul on Davis (he didn’t let Brandon Miller have space to land), the Mavericks found themselves down 15 all of a sudden. Dallas spent the rest of the frame trying to work their way back into the game. Coach Jason Kidd had mentioned pregame that he planned to play the starters longer this game and he went deeper into the bench by mid-quarter. PJ Washington and Naji Marshall helped cut the lead all the way down to four, but a strong Charlotte close meant the Hornets took a 95-88 lead into the fourth.
The final frame was played primarily by the benches. Dallas was down by 17 with about six minutes left and I stopped paying attention. Then I look up and with three minutes, they’d cut the Hornets’ lead all the way down to seven points. Despite a valiant effort from the end-of-bench and training camp roster invitees, Dallas just didn’t have enough. The Mavericks fell, 120-116.
Trading 3’s for 2’s
At one point in the third quarter, with Dallas down several possessions, the box score showed Dallas having attempted 16 threes and the Hornets with 32 attempts. Now, I’m not smart enough to totally explain this yet, but work with me for a minute. Fewer attempts at higher value shots (3 is more than 2), means the Mavericks are going to have to be very efficient at their two-point shots relative to their opponents. They’re also going to have to get to the line more. And this is all assuming their defense is going to be very, very good.
Dallas had some really solid defensive and offensive stretches, but one early takeaway I have is that their margin for success and failure is a lot tighter than we’d like, in no small part because they may not use a key scoring weapon in as much volume as other NBA teams.
The final box score doesn’t show as big a gap, but that’s because Dallas cleared the benches and played with more pace and urgency after the Hornets had pretty much packed it in for the night.
If you’re a big team, you can’t get whooped on the glass
Look, again, I know it’s preseason. But it’s really annoying to hear how this Mavericks team is in a championship-or-bust mode and how defense wins championships, only to get demolished on the glass and give up this many points. Dallas lost the rebounding battle 64-45 and was -10 on second chance points. That cannot be a thing with a roster this big.
The Duke guys are all really fun to watch play basketball
Cooper Flagg, Dereck Lively, and Kon Knueppel rule. This was a shockingly fun game to watch due to the pace and the quality of play we got from the stars. Flagg certainly showed up; while he had turnover issues, he was a monster on defense and showed flashes of why he might also be a generational offensive player as well. Dereck Lively put on a big man clinic for keeping your hands up, moving without the ball, and touch around the basket. He even had a Eurostep! Knueppel took a while to get going for Charlotte but he’s got all the makings of a glue guy who elevates a championship-level team.
