Assigning Grades for the Mavericks in their 123 – 118 loss to the Heat
The Dallas Mavericks had a Sunday night stop in Florida to face the Miami Heat, where they endured a 123 – 118 loss in a tight game that proved to be a back-and-forth affair for a full 48 minutes… plus 5 extra. This OT game had curious vibes, where the Heat seemed to be able to get corner threes up at will, while the Mavs were able to get to the hole whenever they wanted. Unfortunately, the corner threes from unlikely heroes Bam Adebayo and Alec Burks (combined 7-for-14 on threes overall), some sloppy play and particularly horrendous shooting from a few players stopped the Mavs’ winning streak at four. Any close game loss hits a bit harder, but this in particular seemed to be yet another the Mavs could have gotten, but was instead eerily similar to the four straight losses (by a combined 8 points) the Mavs suffered earlier this year. Let’s get to the grades!
Kyrie Irving: C+
27 Points / 4 Rebounds / 6 Assists / 0 Steals / 0 Blocks
Kyrie led all Mavs with 27 points, but did not shoot well on the evening going 9-for-21 from the floor and a paltry 3-for-12 from three. The threes in particular were damaging. Kyrie took a few stare-down threes in the fourth that could very well have put the game away, but he could not convert. Speaking of putting the game away, Kyrie’s only missed free throw was the difference of going up by 2 instead of 3 in the closing moments of the game. An all too easy dunk on the other end forced overtime. While we’ll never know what the three-point lead would have resulted in, the miss was catastrophic.
Quentin Grimes: B-
4 Points / 7 Rebounds / 3 Assists / 0 Steals / 1 Block
Grimes’ shooting night drove down his grade, while his rebounds and overall defense did all it could to pull it up. I ultimately landed him at a B- because the team needs something more from their starting SG than what he was able to give. Granted this role was defaulted into by the absence of Luka Doncic, but Grimes has proved he can be effective and efficient. His 0-for-3 from three was especially tough to swallow in such a close loss.
Klay Thompson: B+
15 Points / 6 Rebounds / 1 Assist / 1 Steal / 2 Blocks
Thompson was no tonight, bouncing back from a sub-par shooting night on Friday. He hit 5-for-12 from the floor, but 3-for-5 from three. His defense was again effective, both with his 3 defensive boards and his 2 blocks, but he didn’t quite put much of a stamp on this game either way.
Naji Marshall: A
20 Points / 5 Rebounds / 1 Assist / 0 Steals / 0 Blocks
This was a tale of two Najis type of game. He did not start off well at all, but his second half performance not only salvaged his night, but made the overall picture look quiet appealing. He ended up shooting 8-for-16 including 3-for-5 from three, and had himself a personal 10-0 run in the third quarter that very likely prevented the wheels from coming off for Dallas.
P.J. Washington: A
21 Points / 10 Rebounds / 3 Assists / 2 Steals / 0 Blocks
Washington again got off to a nice start, and did just about everything right on the evening, shooting 50% on 14 shots and posting a nice double-double. It’s difficult to pick one highlight, but his offensive board off missed Kyrie three with under 2:00 in the fourth quarter kept the game alive for Dallas.
Daniel Gafford: B+
10 Points / 8 Rebounds / 2 Assists / 0 Steals / 3 Blocks
5-for-6 from the floor to go with the stat line above is a nice night from Gafford, with the 3 blocks putting him on the fence for an A-. I ultimately graded a bit lower just for the threes the Heat unleashed at will. Granted his strength isn’t necessarily defending in space, but it felt like a few too many were too wide open due to poor close-outs, and those threes hurt the Mavs again and agasin.
Dereck Lively II: A-
14 Points / 13 Rebounds / 4 Assists / 0 Steals / 2 Blocks
This was a very solid outing for Lively, highlighted by his season high rebound total. He basically did everything right except for one thing. He completely let Jimmy Butler blow by him for a game tying dunk that just simply can’t happen. Of course, the loss does not ride on that one play (it never really does), but it was a glaring stain on an otherwise really nice night.
Maxi Kleber: D
0 Points / 1 Rebound / 1 Assist / 0 Steals / 0 Blocks
Kleber came close to not qualifying for grade consideration, but his 9 minutes featured enough activity to warrant it. He had a board, an assist and a turnover, yet somehow committed 3 fouls and missed all for of his shots.
Jaden Hardy: D
0 Points / 0 Rebounds / 1 Assist / 1 Steal / 0 Blocks
Like Kleber, Hardy barely qualified for grading, but in his 9 minutes he also did enough where you’d think there would be some positive. He shot 0-for-3 from the floor and committed 2 fouls. I elected to grade him like Kleber, not to beat up on anyone or give you extra to read, but because had he and Kleber even hit one shot, committed one less foul, etc. it could have reasonably altered the outcome of the game.
Spencer Dinwiddie: C-
7 Points / 5 Rebounds / 7 Assists / 2 Steals / 1 Block
Dinwiddie doesn’t join Kleber and Hardy with the most undesirable grade that can be given, only because he blocked a shot that basically saved the game at that moment. Otherwise, it’s hard to imagine Dinwiddie could ever shoot this poorly again, so at least we (hopefully) have that out of the way. 1-for-12 overall and 0-for-9 from three is almost impossible to fathom. In fairness to him, the rest of his game was quite good.
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