The Dallas Mavericks (1-2) spent most of Wednesday night’s preseason game against the New Orleans Pelicans (2-1) playing from behind. While the deep reserves eventually made the final few minutes interesting, Dallas could never completely erase an ugly offensive start in a 101-97 preseason loss to the Pelicans.
With Cooper Flagg, Kyrie Irving and several other rotation pieces sitting, Dallas opened with Naji Marshall handling much of the creation alongside Max Christie, Zaccharie Risacher, P.J. Washington
and Moussa Cisse. The offense looked disjointed almost immediately. Washington turned the ball over twice in the first two minutes, Risacher missed an early three, and the Mavericks struggled to generate anything consistently in the half-court. Mar Hall gave them some life with seven first-quarter points, including a pull-up three and a late floater, but New Orleans still built a 26-18 lead after one.
Dallas actually played some of its best basketball in the middle of the second quarter. John Poulakidas hit back-to-back 3-pointers, Seth Lundy knocked down another, and Sergio de Larrea created easy looks for the bigs. Cisse scored twice at the rim, including a cutting dunk off a de Larrea assist that brought Dallas within three at 47-44. Instead of carrying that momentum into halftime, the Mavericks completely lost it over the final two minutes. New Orleans closed with a 9-1 run, capped by Bennedict Mathurin scoring through contact with one second remaining, and Dallas suddenly fell behind 56-45 at the break.
The third quarter never really produced the run Dallas needed. Tobi Lawal repeatedly found openings as a cutter, and Risacher finally got on the board with a pair of layups. Still, the Mavericks kept throwing away possessions and missing open threes as New Orleans pushed the lead back into double digits behind Jeremiah Fears, Zion Williamson, and Yves Missi, taking a 75-63 lead into the fourth. Most of the rotation players were done by then, but the end-of-bench group gave Dallas one final push. Law l continued attacking the rim, Poulakidas made shots, and Lundy got aggressive late, cutting a 95-86 deficit with just over three minutes remaining to 98-95 after a Tarik Biberovic three, four straight Lundy free throws, and a Lundy steal and dunk. Poulakidas eventually hit a pull-up jumper with nine seconds left to make it 100-97, but the comeback ran out of time.
Risacher’s rough night
Risacher started again and finished with six points, four rebounds, two steals, and a block in 23 minutes, but shot 3-of-11 from the field and missed all seven of his 3-point attempts.
The misses aren’t the biggest issue. Dallas wants him taking those shots. The bigger question is what else he can consistently give them. He had a nice cutting layup and a block in the third, but he still looked uncomfortable on too many possessions when attacking or creating. Dallas does not need Risacher to look like a former No. 1 pick. He needs to become useful. This was not one of those nights.
Larry continues to look interesting
I did not expect to be this interested in de Larrea this quickly. He played 30 minutes and finished with 10 points, six assists, four rebounds, a steal, and two blocks while shooting 3-of-6 from the floor and 2-of-3 from deep. The most encouraging part is how comfortable he looks creating for others. He found Moussa Cisse for a dunk late in the second quarter and set up Lawal several times in the second half. There were also mistakes, including four turnovers, but that comes with giving a young guard this much freedom. Dallas desperately needs more ball-handling behind Irving, and de Larrea continues to look more NBA-ready than expected.
Tobi Lawal keeps making things happen
Lawal might have been Dallas’ best player against the Pels. He finished with 16 points on just six shots, went 8-of-8 from the free-throw line and added four rebounds and a steal in 23 minutes. He did most of his damage doing exactly what you want from him: cutting hard, running the floor, and attacking the rim. On a night when New Orleans couldn’t stop him, Lawal gave them easy offense through activity and athleticism.
The shooting was awful
Dallas attempted 49 threes and made 10. That is 20.4 percent. Risacher went 0-of-7, P.J. Washington went 0-of-4, Caleb Martin went 0-of-4, and Tarik Biberovic went 1-of-9. I don’t actually hate the volume. Dusty May clearly wants this team taking threes. But this is also the downside. When the shots don’t fall, and Irving or Flagg isn’t around to stabilize things, the offense can get ugly fast. Wednesday was a pretty good example of that.
