Assigning Grades for the Mavericks in their 119 – 116 loss to the Pelicans
Playing on the second night of a back-to-back, the Dallas Mavericks took on the New Orleans Pelicans, losing 119–116 in a gut-wrench of a game that was essentially decided by poor officiating (and plenty of poor play). With Kyrie Irving and Dereck Lively II sitting out (and Luka Doncic and Dante Exum as well…) things challenging for sure. Much of the game felt like one-upmanship of futility, especially on the defensive end. There were countless Pelican fast-breaks that went largely uncontested, while on the other hand New Orleans seemed to have no answer for Daniel Gafford inside.
Aside from the injuries, the Mavericks seem to consistently display deficiencies in the three primary categories during this injury-laden skid.
They do not box out. Rebounding is instead an art of out jumping the opponent or getting the lucky bounce.
They do not defend the three well. There is a school of thought that I’m coming around to, which says you really can’t defend the three per se, but you can take it away. The defensive scheme Dallas runs revolves largely around gumming up the paint, but far too often Maverick defenders are so far away from opposing shooters they either get a wide open look, or the Mav defender can’t actually chase them off the line.
They do not have a closer. This is obvious, with Luka and Kyrie on the sideline, but they haven’t gotten anyone to really step up, nor have they necessarily designated someone. Case in point for the comparison – Dejounte Murray completely took over the late minutes of the fourth. Everyone knew the ball was going to him, but he couldn’t be stopped. In close game, the Mavericks not having someone like that is costing them W’s.
Having said all of that, this game will be remembered as a loss caused by a blown no-call on a Pelican’s goaltend that would have given the Mavericks the lead with 1.5 seconds remaining. When the Mavs need all the help they can get, getting an actual call to go there way correctly doesn’t seem too much to ask for.
Rest assured faithful Mavs fans. The team is not cursed. The season is not lost. The proverbial basketball gods don’t hate Dallas. It’s just an epic slog right now, the likes of which the team probably hasn’t seen in many years. Hopefully they’ll be better for it on the other end. Let’s get to the grades!
Spencer Dinwiddie: B+
20 Points / 5 Rebounds / 4 Assists / 3 Steals / 0 Blocks (38 Minutes)
Late in the fourth quarter, Dinwiddie closed out on a three, but jump-stopped a few feet in front of the defender and remained flat-footed instead of jumping. As a result the Pelicans made a huge three. A single play doesn’t determine an entire grade (and jumping may have made no difference), but this was a critically bad play and certainly didn’t help tilt his grade higher. The fact he hit the game-winner on a nice pass from Naji Marshall, only to have it goal-tended (but not called as such) seems to be infinitely worse than any grade I could give him here. Solid game, below average shooting.
Klay Thompson: C
12 Points / 1 Rebounds / 2 Assists / 0 Steals / 0 Blocks (26 Minutes)
Again, a single play doesn’t determine the whole grade, but it’s hard to get the last possession out of your mind if you saw it. Despite my comments in the open, the Mavs got the ball to Thompson in the final moments, determined to get him a shot. Instead he got double-teamed and turned the ball over. Overall, his shot, especially his three (2-for-9), wasn’t falling when the team could have used it.
Naji Marshall: B+
7 Points / 2 Rebounds / 10 Assists / 2 Steals / 0 Blocks (30 Minutes)
I love an assist to turnover ratio like this, 5-to-1 from your shooting guard is a beautiful thing and he led the team by a wide margin. Ironically, he would have had 11 assists if not for the missed goaltending call, but either way, his distributing tonight was awesome. His shooting is still off a bit, coming out of his four-game suspension, but he played a very solid all-around game.
P.J. Washington: B+
14 Points / 14 Rebounds / 2 Assists / 1 Steal / 0 Blocks (38 Minutes)
In the waning moments of the game, Washington was covering Dejounte Murray and bit on a pump-fake that resulted in free throws. Continuing the trend above, a single play doesn’t determine it all, but you can start seeing that the daisy-chain of plays like this are all it takes to lose a three-point game. He led the team in rebounds with a very impressive total – something he was graded negatively on last game – and he deserves major kudos for that. His shooting, even at close range, was close to terrible, and he had four turnovers, counteracting many of the positives.
Daniel Gafford: A+
27 Points / 12 Rebounds / 2 Assists / 0 Steals / 2 Blocks (30 Minutes)
Gafford was an absolute beast, registering his third double-double of the season with a career high point total. There was nothing cheap or flukey about any of it. He simply dominated, playing highly intelligent basketball, putting himself in the right position and basically doing everything right the entire time he was on the floor.
Quentin Grimes: A-
14 Points / 2 Rebounds / 2 Assists / 1 Steal / 0 Blocks (19 Minutes)
The Grimes we know and love was back in this one. He didn’t shoot particularly well from three, but overall went 6-for-11 and had a couple of big buckets at key times. His normally very impressive rebound numbers were down, but not unreasonable for a 19 minute outing. Solid game, and perhaps he should have gotten a few more minutes in this one.
Jaden Hardy: A-
21 Points / 5 Rebounds / 2 Assists / 1 Steal / 0 Blocks (25 Minutes)
This is X-Factor Hardy at his finest. Microwave scoring on high efficiency (7-for-13 overall; 4-for-6 on threes), only two turnovers, and five boards. No one in Mavs Nation would complain if this was happening consistently even one-time per week. His grade suffers a bit, however, because he still did some of those quirky little things he does that can be frustrating. I will occasionally switch between home and away broadcasts, and just happened to catch a Pelicans announcer say that Hardy wasn’t playing down the stretch because Jason Kidd didn’t like how much he was playing one-on-one. How the announcer could know this is puzzling, but nonetheless an interesting and likely accurate assessment. Hardy sometimes just gets in his own way. The good thing about all these injuries is that he’s learning in real time and hopefully will take a leap forward for the experience.