The Mavericks are in Las Vegas Wednesday night for a “home” game against the Los Angeles Lakers. Both teams are adapting to new looks, but one of the two squads have had more rotation players suit up than
the other. Dallas is 2-1 so far in preseason, looking solid against the JV Thunder and beating up on the Utah Jazz. The Lakers have six total preseason games and they’ve played three as of this writing with one tonight against the Phoenix Suns before playing the Mavericks Wednesday night. Yeah, a preseason back-to-back, sure guys. The game starts at 9:30 pm local time and will be on ESPN for reasons beyond me.
It’s a defensive team, but they must shoot
Maybe I’m in the wrong for even thinking this way — after all, Dallas’ best 3pt shooting game in this preseason was a 37% night where they scored 116, a preseason hight, but also lost to Charlotte. Dallas, as constructed, measures out as a tough defensive team. Defensive effort is much more replicatable night after night than hot shooting from deep, so mabe it’s for the best. Still, Dallas isn’t moving away from the three ball; against Utah, 53 of their 94 field goal attempts were beyond the arc. They’re just missing a lot of them.
Cooper Flagg is adjusting to the NBA three, so if anything, his 36.4% 3pt shooting in the preseason is a boon. But watching guys like Klay Thompson knock the rust off by shooting 5-for-15 or P.J. Washington and D’Angelo Russell combine to go 2-for-14 doesn’t inspire confidence for a hot start to the regular season offensively.
Bell tolls for Some Guys
NBA teams can, to an extant, choose how many preseason game they’d like to play, so long as it isn’t more than six. For a team with as much established, locked in talent as Dallas has, it makes sense that they’ve opted for even fewer, playing in their fourth and final preseason matchup against Los Angeles in Las Vegas on Wednesday. It’s probably for the best, but I’ll admit, it feels like we will be missing out a little.
D’Angelo Russell, the presumptive starting PG, didn’t play in Utah after appearing in Dallas’ first two preseason games, and while he’s a lock for the roster, the wild number of darts Dallas threw at the board searching for more guard minutes haven’t had a chance to shine.
Dennis Smith’s return to the floor against Utah ended after nine minutes and no shots taken. The recently acquired Delano Blanton, aka DB Hooper, has yet to appear in any game action. Dante Exum is perhaps a porcelain marionette who has convinced his creator to let him play NBA basketball and hasn’t played in the preseason with a knee injury. Brandon Williams, last seasons’ late bloomer, hasn’t played because of a hamstring.
These are all end of the bench guys in the best case, but it’s fun to see developing guys get playing time, and that’s running out for most of them. On the bright side, Ryan Nembhard has looked good. The undrafted rookie seemingly has a clear runway for the second unit PG spot, and with how Dallas’ backcourt is looking, might find himself starting NBA sooner than anyone expected.
Did it to themselves
For some reason (money), the Lakers have scheduled themselves a back-to-back in the preseason. They’ll play in Phoenix on Tuesday before stopping in Vegas to play Dallas. One has to imagine that, teams going through the trouble to schedule a neutral-site preseason game in a place like Vegas, means they’re not going to be running the exhibit 10 guys out there for 30 minutes. You choose to play in Vegas to put on a show.
Expect LA to use the Phoenix game as their “punt” game. As for Dallas, after getting playing time from all their major contributors across the first 3 games, perhaps there would’ve been an expectation that they’d pack it in for the finale, content to get out of the preseason with no new injuries. If we do get at least a quarter of big-name five-on-five, it’ll be the first time we see Cooper Flagg on the floor against Doncic. That seems likely to be the lasting image from a game that doesn’t really mean anything, but is a major, final, turning of the page.
