After three straight losses, Dallas is searching for their clutch gene.
The Dallas Mavericks lost to the Golden State Warriors 120-117. Dallas dropped a heartbreaker in the Bay after they late a late lead slip between their fingers. It’s their third straight loss by a combined total of 6 points. Tough pill to swallow.
Klay Thompson received a warm welcome from the fans at the Chase Center in his first game in the Bay not in a Warriors jersey. Those cheers, deserved as they were, didn’t take long to turn to jeers on Dallas’ first possession when Thompson drew a foul on Steph Curry and hit two free throws.
It was sure to be an emotional homecoming – made all the more pivotal by being the first game of the NBA Cup group stage! (Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?) Luka Doncic had one of his better-scoring games, contributing 31 points. Steph Curry, unsurprisingly, led the way for Golden State, dropping in 37 points.
Klay did not did not disappoint. He hit six threes, including a big one in the fourth that pushed Dallas’ lead to five with under six to play. He finished with 22 points and an 0-1 deficit with Steph in the head-to-head.
Inopertune offense.
Dallas finished off the first half of the game with a stellar 36-point second quarter. From there, things got dicey. Their 11-point second-quarter lead shifted to a 13-point Warriors lead in the third, only for the Mavs to claw their way back, building a six-point lead with three and a half to go in the fourth.
From there, though, Steph’s singular 10-0 run put the Warriors over the top. Dallas went without a basket for three minutes, letting a 114-108 lead flip to a 118-114 hole. A step-back three from Quentin Grimes stopped the bleeding and gave Dallas at least a chance for a game-tying three, but it wasn’t enough. Dallas has played three good teams and, if one or two things go different, their record might be looking a little shinier now, but there’s no room for moral victories in the win column.
There are two of you
Dollars to donuts, the combo of Derek Lively and Daniel Gafford might be the best one-two punch at the center position in the whole league. That’s what makes it all the more confusing in games like this one, against a small team like the Warriors, that Dallas gave up 18 offensive rebounds. It’s not that Lively and Gafford are the only Mavs who can be counted on to grab a board, but you’d think playing against a team that doesn’t play anybody over 6’9”, this would be a game where they’d feast one the boards, not the other way around.
In a sense, they should be commended for ONLY giving up 13 second-chance points with a number that crooked. Still, giving a team that rosters Steph freaking Curry, it’s a smart move to limit the offensive chances as much as possible.
Challenging
After initiating and then losing a coach’s challenge in the fourth quarter after Dallas had worked themselves back into the game, head coach Jason Kidd’s record fell to 2-for-8 on the season. It’s hard to tell what this means, but Kidd was one of the best in the league last season, winning 50 challenges in his 82 regular season games.
It hints at something that been simmering all season, and it’s that Dallas, the players and also apparently the coach, are still trying to get a handle on the officiating this season.
After a marked shift in the second half of last season allowed for an uptick in physicality and defensive intensity, the refs seem to have developed something of a hair-trigger again in the early going of this season. Maybe that will change, Maybe the Mavs will adjust, and maybe Kidd will have to stop letting Luka bully him into using his challenge.