The Mavericks lost at home in a long, boring, and sleepy game, 119-108, that featured more injury scares and future implications for Dallas as they continue tank week. The Mavericks lost after giving up double-digit points to five different Nuggets players, including 33 from Aaron Gordon and 22 from Peyton Watson. The Mavericks were led by Naji Marshall’s 24-point night, along with 20 from Brandon Williams and 15 from Caleb Martin. The biggest story from tonight’s game was Cooper Flagg retearing
his ankle in the second quarter. Flagg tried to play through it after halftime, but was eventually ruled out in the middle of the third period. Daniel Gafford also injured his ankle in this game and was ruled out in the fourth quarter.
The Mavericks played an inspiring game considering the circumstances, but still lost, which is basically how almost every game has gone for them this season. Here are the numbers we noticed.
5: Mavericks 3 pointers
The Mavericks built a skyscraper with the number of shots they bricked from beyond the arc tonight. The Mavericks finished the game a whopping 5-for-34 from three. Your math is correct; that’s 29 bricked three-point shots, enough to build a house in Preston Hollow here in Dallas. Jaden Hardy and Klay Thompson, ironically, the players who made the most threes Wednesday night, also contributed the most misses from three. Those misses weren’t spread evenly or harmless; they came in clusters that repeatedly stalled momentum just as Dallas was threatening to make the game uncomfortable. Every Mavericks run was followed up by empty Dallas possessions that gave the Nuggets the opportunity to reset, rebound, and set the pace in addition to Denver’s shots. A team’s poor three-point shooting becomes more than just a shooting issue, it simultaneously becomes a rebounding issue, a transition defense issue, and a margin-for-error issue.
Dallas lost because they kept taking threes without making any adjustments, making an already difficult comeback seem unachievable. This stat is simple: when you lose 29 possessions to missed shots, you just get outmatched and lose games.
0: D’Angelo Russell Minutes
The funniest takeaway while looking at the box score is seeing the Mavericks, a team with five or six injured guys a night, including tonight, when they had to use two-way prospect Miles Kelly from Auburn for four and a half minutes, not playing Russell, the Mavs “big” free agent signing of this past summer. This reflects a lot of things, but none more than the seeming end of Russell’s long, semi-successful NBA career. It also signifies another colossal mistake in the “vision” of former general manager Nico Harrison, and of course, the distrust the coaching staff and Hall of Fame point guard head coach Jason Kidd has in the veteran guard.
A team that’s stretched as thinly as the Mavericks are by injuries, and in a game where Cooper Flagg and Daniel Gafford both got hurt, there should be a spot for a veteran who could contribute, but that doesn’t seem to be Russell anymore.
3-to-1: Transition advantage for the Nuggets
Not only did the Mavericks get outshot tonight, but their misses also allowed the Nuggets to absolutely abuse them in transition. The Nuggets finished with 30 fast-break points, along with 16 made threes on 42% shooting, compared to the Mavericks’ 10 fast-break points on five made threes at 17%. The Nuggets didn’t need to force the issue; Dallas’ misses did the work for them, fueling transition threes, early-clock layups, and momentum-killing runs.
When your opponent is beating you both in shot efficiency and fast-break production, the game stops being competitive long before the final score reflects it. As stated earlier, when the shooting is this drastically different, you are bound to lose games.
