The losing streak extends to four games
The Dallas Mavericks have now lost four straight. On Friday night they fell to the Cleveland Cavaliers at home, 134-122. Evan Mobley carved Dallas up, scoring 34 while grabbing 10 rebounds, handing out four assists, and blocking two shots. Quentin Grimes was a bright spot for Dallas with 26.
With the late scratch of Kyrie Irving and the late addition of PJ Washington, the Mavericks were forced to start yet another hodge-podge line up. Washington and Dinwiddie got off to a good start and the Mavericks hung with the Cavs early and held the lead for stretches. But when head coach Jason Kidd had to dig deeper into his bench, things went awry for Dallas on both ends. Turnovers and tepid offensive decision making led to points for Cleveland. The Cavaliers ended the quarter on a 15-0 run, down 32-21.
The run continued into the second before the Mavericks finally found the bottom of the net. Cleveland pounded Dallas off of turnovers, scoring 18 in the half. The Cleveland lead grew to as many as 18 as well, but the Mavericks showed some fight, cutting into the lead with a few distinct runs. Klay Thompson sank back-to-back threes in the final 70 seconds to cut the lead down to 11, but a sloppy Washington turnover followed a Garland bucket and Caris LaVert capitalized with a made three. Dallas trailed 69-53 at the half.
It did not get better for Dallas to start the second half. The Cleveland lead swelled to as high as 27, with threes hitting and Evan Mobley eating inside the arc. Quentin Grimes scored 20 points to help Dallas rally back (insofar as Dallas could). The Mavericks ended the quarter down 100-85.
The rally continued into the fourth, with the Mavericks playing really hard. A forced turnover (just the sixth of the game by Cleveland) resulted in a Dereck Lively oop from Jaden Hardy to trim the Cavalier lead to 12. Dallas couldn’t cut it further and the Cavs pushed the lead back to 19. Once again the Mavericks rallied, led by various Jaden Hardy pushes, and got the lead down 12 again at the seven minute mark. The Cavaliers do what good teams to and scored easily and repeatedly following a timeout. Dallas actually managed to close it to nine points in garbage time, but the end of bench guys couldn’t make it any closer than that. Dallas fell 134-122.
Dallas is missing too many guys
This is a game where there’s just not much to take away. Luka Doncic is hurt, Kyrie Irving is sick. When your top two guys are out and you’re playing the literal best team in the league, it’s a big ask to expect the non-stars to shock the league. Dallas actually played well at spots too, but when Brandon Williams and Jaden Hardy are getting heavy minutes, expectations begin to sink.
What’s interesting is that both of the aforementioned guys actually played pretty well considering the Cavaliers are statistically one of the best teams in the league. The difference came down to turnovers, points off turnovers, and three point shooting. Also, honestly, raw talent. The Cavs had more. If you’re mad about this loss, I get it in the big picture sense that losing four games sucks, but Dallas needs to get healthy, then they can figure this out again.
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