The Dallas Mavericks (12-21) travelled to California to take on the Sacramento Kings (8-23) on Saturday night. Missing Anthony Davis’ 20 points and 10 rebounds as he nursed a groin injury did not help Dallas’ cause as they lost 113-107.
Let’s get to the grades!
Ryan Nembhard: B-
9 PTS / 2 REB / 3 AST / 0 STL / 0 BLK – 17 MIN
Nembhard was solid, but found himself on the bench for long stretches, contributing somewhat to his lack of impact. For that reason, it’s a bit difficult to assess his night, but suffice it to say he did some nice things and shot well enough,
though some of that came when the Mavs were down big.
Max Christie: C
9 PTS / 7 REB / 5 AST / 1 STL / 0 BLK – 30 MIN
Christie was part of the trend of Mavs that could not hit shots with any real consistency on the night. He rebounded and passed well on a poor shooting night, but turned it over a touch too often.
Cooper Flagg: B-
23 PTS / 6 REB / 5 AST / 0 STL / 0 BLK – 34 MIN
There was a point early in the third quarter where Flagg had as many turnovers as shot attempts (four). Having hit none of those shots was problematic of course, but the fact he had so few attempts without Anthony Davis in the game is befuddling. With all due respect, the Kings defense was not that good. Flagg did assert himself much more coming out of halftime, but it’s difficult to stuff a full game’s worth of play into only the latter 24 minutes (though he sure did try). Credit for adjusting, but odd it took 24 minutes to get there.
P.J. Washington: B
17 PTS / 5 REB / 1 AST / 0 STL / 4 BLK – 34 MIN
Washington, much like Naji Marshall, is one of those guys who doesn’t quit even when things are ugly. He may have poor offensive nights from time to time, but he’s the type of player to go hard until the final buzzer. Tonight was a mixed bag, as his three-pointer was not falling well, but he was one of few Mavs that had some semblance of consistency overall. A real nice chase down block in the third quarter says a lot about how he carries himself, and his four total blocks bump his grade.
Daniel Gafford: B
11 PTS / 7 REB / 1 AST / 1 STL / 1 BLK – 23 MIN
I’m on the “keep Gafford” side of the fence and tonight he somehow made a case for both my stance as well as those who want to see him traded. He had a solid night in the box score, but had a few weird plays where he got beat or was simply out of position. Solid enough night in limited minutes.
Naji Marshall: B-
11 PTS / 2 REB / 1 AST / 1 STL / 0 BLK – 26 MIN
May Naji Marshall have a long tenure in a Mavericks uniform. He has a profoundly chill nature that belies an effort which often finds him hitting a big three pointer to force a timeout, or grabbing a rebound and taking it full court for a layup. His ever-trusty drives were not falling for the most part, but that was the story for the Mavs collectively.
Klay Thompson: C
14 PTS / 5 REB / 0 AST / 1 STL / 1 BLK – 25 MIN
Continuing the theme of the night for Dallas, Thompson couldn’t hit much with any consistency. This was particularly unfortunate, as he looked fine early on, but then botched a contested layup, got his own rebound, then badly blew the putback. That was the start of a drought that included a couple of makeable shots not finding the bottom of the net.
Final Thoughts
If you tuned in for this game, I’m sorry. If you did almost anything else, congratulations. This was one of those nights where the Mavs did all they could to beat themselves while the Kings did all they could to beat the Mavs as well. Dallas did make a few runs and were within striking distance (as far as the modern-day NBA is concerned) for much of the night, but had they been playing an upper echelon team, I don’t think it’s a stretch that they would have been down 30 points instead of 15 at the half. Shots wouldn’t fall, turnovers galore, defense was suspect (especially against the long ball) and flow was not flowing.
For those more interested in a higher draft pick this summer than they are in wins now, the silver lining is that Dallas inched slightly closer to the West’s worst record which the Kings held coming in.
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