A rare losing streak for Dallas, one that might not let up any time soon
The Dallas Mavericks lost their third straight game, falling to the Houston Rockets on New Years’ Day, 110-99. Alperen Şengün torched Dallas to the tune of 23 points, six boards, four assists, and six steals. Quentin Grimes lead Dallas scorers with a mere 17 points.
With Dereck Lively back in the rotation, Dallas got off to a great start against the aggressive Rockets. Klay Thompson also returned and connected on three early shots that got the Mavericks offense going. After taking a 15-6 lead, the Mavericks weathered the Rockets making a push of their own. The two teams traded baskets for much of the frame only for the Mavericks to pull ahead again late. Dallas hit four threes in the quarter and that helped give the Mavericks a 30-24 lead after one period.
Things would go awry in the second frame, with Lively picking up fouls and Daniel Gafford turning into swiss cheese. The Rockets poured it on Dallas, scoring 37 in the quarter as the Dallas offense turned tepid. PJ Washington sprained his knee toward the end of the half and things turned bleak for Dallas as they entered halftime down 61-52.
Dallas turned to Maxi Kleber to start the second half in the place of the injured Washington. The Mavericks made multiple rallies to get the lead back to single digits, but Sengun made quick work of a skittish Dallas defense. The Houston lead grew to as many as 16 and shrank to as few as eight but the Mavericks could not make it a game. The Mavericks trailed 89-75 entering the fourth.
The Rockets maintained their lead for most of the fourth. Dallas tried to make things uncomfortable and nearly cut the lead to single digits, but miscues in the form of turnovers plagued the team as they had throughout the night. Dallas loses their third straight for the first time since the four game losing streak that took place in mid November. Dallas falls in Houston, 110-99.
Some thoughts:
Dereck Lively is what makes all this possible, past Luka Doncic of course
At one point in the game, back up center Daniel Gafford was a minus-29 in under 10 minutes of playing time. The Houston Rockets radio crew said that hadn’t been done since 1977 or something wild. Regardless, it illustrates a key point: Gafford is a back up and against the right line ups, will get whupped.
That’s a long opening about another player for a section about Lively, who is so important to what Dallas does. Between his injuries and foul issues, this has been an early season where Lively slowed down in his development relative to last season. That’s fine, what he did then was absurd. That said, it’s worth pointing out he has to stop with the touch fouls away from the basket. The NBA is allowing less contact than they did down the stretch and into the post season. It might not be fair or just, but that’s not the NBA. He has to figure out how to stay on the floor more so the center position is less of a timeshare and more a full time residence for Lively. he CAN do it, it’s a matter of execution.
Turnovers and free throws
Dallas may well have won this specific game had they hit their free throws and played a cleaner game in terms of turnovers. And yet, watching NBA players miss half of their free throws is annoying. Witnessing some really dense turnovers is maddening. Houston’s a good team, when playing them you have to limit mistakes and Dallas did nothing of the sort.
This could get bleak
Dallas was already down Luka Doncic until… sometime in the distant future. Naji Marshall missed the game due to suspension. Dereck Lively returned in limited minutes following a hip injury. Now it’s time to add PJ Washington to the injury report with a knee sprain we do not yet know the severity of.
January is not kind to Dallas schedule-wise. League leading Cleveland visits Dallas Friday. They play Denver twice, Oklahoma City twice, the Lakers, the Celtics, the Timberwolves again. This team might be thrilled to be near .500 when Luka Doncic returns.