The Dallas Mavericks (4-3) were riding high after beating two previously undefeated teams, but followed that up with a loss to a winless Kings (1-6) team, 115-100. No Kyrie Irving (rest) didn’t help the cause, but Cooper Flagg had a rough night, and the Mavericks simply could not connect from downtown as a team.
The silver lining? If the Mavs slept on arguably the worst team in the NBA, they’ve learned the lesson that you just can’t do that in this league.
Let’s get to the grades!
Cooper Flagg: C-
17 PTS / 4 REB / 6 AST / 2 STL / 40 MIN
The good news is that
hopefully Flagg got his worst game of the season out of the way. He had a dreadful shooting night (3-of-19) from the floor, didn’t have much interest in taking available three-point shots and seemed frustrated to the point it threw his game off entirely. He chipped in little bits elsewhere and bolstered his scoring with excellent free throw shooting, but it wasn’t nearly enough with the overall messiness of the game.
Max Christie: N/A
0 PTS / 2 REB / 0 AST / 8 MIN
You never want to see a player get injured as happened to Christie (hip), but it’s the only thing that spared him from a solid “D” grade. He was 0-of-5 – all from downtown – before the injury and sadly has brought very little to the team this season inclusive of Monday night’s performance.
Caleb Martin: C
5 PTS / 6 REB / 21 MIN
Martin wasn’t on my starter Bingo card as the guy who would take Kyrie Irving’s place in the starting lineup, but keeping the bench unit of Zaccharie Risacher, Morez Johnson and Marcus Sasser made sense. He was fine, but didn’t play starter minutes and didn’t contribute all that much. So, while he didn’t necessarily hurt the team, he didn’t quite help it in any appreciable way either.
P.J. Washington: D
12 PTS / 5 REB / 1 AST / 2 STL / 38 MIN
Washington backslid a little from previous games, appearing a bit disengaged with a stat line to back that up. 2-of-9 shooting (with six misses from deep) and not nearly enough production for the amount of time he spent on the floor made for a bad night. This was a game Washington could have at least locked in on defense, but that is where the disengagement seemed to be apparent. Something was off in Dallas on Monday night, and it definitely got to Washington.
Daniel Gafford: A
20 PTS / 7 REB / 1 STL / 1 BLK / 26 MIN
If not for Gafford, it’s difficult to imagine how bad this game would have been. He was by far the best player on the floor for the Mavs. An offensive juggernaut hitting 9-of-10 shots and both of his free throw attempts. He made the absolute most of limited minutes and it’s a shame it was largely a wasted effort.
Walter Clayton, Jr.: A
20 PTS / 1 REB / 2 AST / 1 STL / 0 BLK – 24 MIN
Alongside Gafford, Clayton, Jr. was another bright spot. He was the only player on the team even remotely locked in from deep, hitting 4-of-5 three point attempts and 6-of-9 overall. In hindsight, he should have taken Irving’s place as a starter, but who could have predicted that from the outset? This was a very nice night for Clayton, Jr. and hopefully something to build off as he will likely have opportunities on night’s Irving rests.
Final Thoughts
This is simply a game you flush. Look around the NBA on any given night, and a team that has no business losing is getting waxed. Tonight it was the Mavs’ turn. Almost to a man, they were completely off their game and plainly could not get anything going outside of a few bright spots. Learn from it and get ready for the next one.
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