Mavericks vs Magic Preview: 3 thoughts as Dallas hosts Orlando

Game one of an early week back-to-back for the Mavericks

The Dallas Mavericks (3-2) host the Orlando Magic (3-3) for an early Sunday evening game at the American Airlines Center. Dallas is coming off an annoying Halloween loss to the Houston Rockets, where they were down by 20 points for a significant part o the contest. They’ve had two days to stew after making a rally where they actually played some defense but came up short anyway. The Magic are reeling a bit; after a career night for star Paulo Banchero against the Indiana Pacers, Orlando fell to the Chicago Bulls, lost Banchero to an injury for an unknown period of time, then got beat by the league-leading Cleveland Cavaliers. Here’s some thoughts before the Game:

Will the MVP Luka Doncic make an appearance?

Some variation of this question is going to be asked before every game until Doncic puts on a performance that reflects his status in the league. Doncic shot 6 of 17 against Houston until he turned it around with a strong shooting performance to close the game by hitting 6 off 8.

What I would like to see if for Doncic to actually finish in the paint. Outside of the restricted area, he’s shooting 40% in the paint whereas last year he shot 55%. That explains just about all of the things you’re seeing on TV that make you groan as another Doncic attempt rolls out. They will fall, it’s a matter of when. It may not be against a long, rangy Magic defense.

Can the Mavericks guard anyone?

Part of what’s been killing the Mavericks when they look sloppy is their man defense is very undisciplined, almost to a man. They’re getting beat by the first dribble move from any ball handler, which puts the rest of the defense in rotation. Against the Rockets, it put the big men in position to commit cheap fouls. Jason Kidd had this to say yesterday about the defense: “Some of it is reaching. Some of it may be out of position, but it’s early. Just understanding and seeing it on tape, being able to talk about it and address it.”

We saw what can happen when the defense locks down, which it finally did in the fourth quarter run. The Rockets hit some tough shots to put Dallas away, but you could see the vision of what Dallas wanted to do.

Controlling the glass

The Rockets punished Dallas on the glass, grabbing a whopping 18 offensive boards. Luckily for Dallas, the offensive glass is far less of a priority for the Magic, as they average just under 10 per game and are in the bottom half of the league in chances. The Mavericks are seventh in the league in offensive rebounds per game and it will be worth watching to see if they can get extra chances against a big Magic team.

Dallas needs to put an emphasis on actually boxing out. While we’re here, I’d like to see Dereck Lively in particularly do well on the defensive glass.

How to watch

This one might be a little hard to watch as it’s only on Channel 29 and MavsTV (and NBA League Pass if you’re out of market).