The Dallas Mavericks fell to the Washington Wizards 117-107 in Friday night’s matchup at home. The horrid loss marks Dallas’ second of the season, and follows a rather forgettable 125-92 defeat to Victor
Wembanyama’s Spurs.
Daniel Gafford (ankle sprain), Dante Exum (mysteriously undisclosed leg injury?), and Kyrie Irving (ACL) were all out for the Mavericks. Bilal Coulibaly (hand surgery) missed Friday’s game against Washington. Gafford’s season debut seems to be on the horizon, with him being upgraded to questionable before ultimately being ruled out in tonight’s bout.
Anthony Davis led the Mavericks with 27 points and 13 rebounds in the loss. Cooper Flagg added 18 points, six assists and five rebounds. The Wizards were led by Kyshawn George, with 34 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. Every Maverick not named Flagg should be ashamed of themselves for how this game played out. Washington won the 3-point, assist, and turnover battles, and the Mavericks at times seemed unbothered by the fact that they were losing to the worst team in the NBA last season. This game has to be a wakeup call for Dallas, or we should all go ahead and bring out tankathon.com.
Here are four stats to know from tonight’s loss:
34: Kyshawn George career-high points
Dallas had no answer for Kyshawn George tonight, who had a career night, finishing with 34 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, three steals and 2 blocks. He led Washington in 3-pointers, too, hitting seven of his nine attempts from deep. The Mavericks had no interest in guarding him and let him have his way, impacting both sides of the floor. For a team that has sold itself on its defense, Dallas looked lazy.
8: PJ Washington turnovers
PJ Washington was sloppy with the ball tonight, accounting for eight turnovers. If the Mavericks are going to continue to put the ball in Washington’s hands, this won’t be the last time he stacks up incomplete passes that will suck the momentum out of them. It’s quite concerning to hear that Jason Kidd has anointed Washington as a primary ballhandler, as Washington has been a notoriously tough watch with the ball in his hands during his Mavericks tenure. If this is something he worked on during the summer, evidence of that offseason work was nowhere to be found against the Wizards.
0-for-4: Anthony Davis 3-point shooting
Anthony Davis went 0-for-4 from 3-point range tonight, and overall looked lazy, and — surprise — out of shape! He added five turnovers. His 27-point, 13-rebound stat line is a misleading one. Dallas needs shooters, but Davis should not be the one shooting from deep. He settles for long jumpers far too often, and tonight was another example of that. Davis needs to get in shape quickly because the Mavericks need him to bear some semblance to his 2020 self if they want any chance at being successful this year.
18/5/6: Cooper Flagg’s statline
Cooper Flagg had his first breakout game tonight, finishing with 18 points, five rebounds and six assists. Eleven of his 18 points came in as part of a too-little-too-late run from the Mavs, and he had the AAC on fire during that span. There’s a lot of good to take from Flagg’s game tonight, if you want to take anything from this ugly loss. He played a lot more confidently than on Wednesday night, showing off some nice finishing moves and hitting a couple of 3-pointers. This season will probably be one of looking at the little things to enjoy, and it was fun to see Flagg contribute. There is hope, somewhere!
The Mavericks are back in action Sunday night as they face the Toronto Raptors at home, tipping off at 6:30 PM CDT. I hope they know that, too.
