Dallas has now dropped its last five games and six of the team’s last seven.
If this version of the Dallas Mavericks (20-16) can’t find a way to beat this version of the Memphis Grizzlies (24-13), it’s just the latest sign that some dark days could be ahead for Mavs fans. With Memphis missing three of its top four scorers and Dallas missing both its top two with injuries, the Grizz turned a 12-point second-quarter deficit into a 119-104 win against the Mavericks on Monday at the FedEx Forum.
After scoring 36 points in the first quarter, the Mavs managed just 67 more the rest of the way in another sluggish loss without star guards Luka Dončić (calf) and Kyrie Irving (back). Jaren Jackson Jr. led all scorers with 35 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds as well. PJ Washington led the Mavericks with 17 points in the loss but needed 22 shot attempts to get there. Dallas has now dropped five in a row and six of its last seven games.
Here are four stats that stood out in the loss that had a distinct junior varsity feel to it.
26-14: Memphis’ scoring spurt to end first half
This version of the Mavericks somehow built an 11-point lead early in the second quarter. Memphis, without the aid of their second- and third-leading scorers in Ja Morant and Desmond Bane, missed their first seven shots of the second quarter to help Dallas along. PJ Washington found Naji Marshall on a dive to the bucket through the teeth of the Grizzlies defense to put the Mavs up 41-30 with nine minutes left in the first half.
From that point on, Dallas went cold on offense and the Grizzlies woke up a little behind Jaren Jackson Jr. Memphis outscored the Mavericks 26-14 from that point on, including one stretch late in the first half when the Grizzlies connected on eight in a row from the field. That 26-14 scoring advantage included a 14-2 run fueled by Jackson, who scored or assisted on five of six trips down the floor from the 4:37 mark in the second quarter to the 1:45 mark.
Jackson led all scorers with 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting at halftime and pulled down seven rebounds as well. Memphis took a 56-55 lead into the break.
10-0: Memphis’ early third-quarter run
How many times have you heard an announcer or a coach say that what you do going into and coming out of halftime often defines how the night is going to go for you? That you HAVE to win those minutes to win the game? Well, the Mavericks did not on Monday, so they did not. After that late 14-2 run in the second quarter, Jackson keyed another 10-0 Grizzlies run early in the third quarter.
He hit a floater and a spot-up 3-pointer on consecutive possessions to put Memphis back in the lead, up 63-60 with 10:22 left in the third. Then, he and Jaylen Wells each put down a pair of free throws to give the Grizzlies a 68-60 lead. When Jon Konchar managed a little reverse layup with 7:45 left in the third, Memphis held its first double-digit lead of the night, up 73-63 at the time. It was a 22-point swing in about 16 minutes worth of game time; Dallas held a 38-26 lead early in the second when Daniel Gafford scored inside over Konchar.
Jackson inflated his stat line from 16 and seven at halftime to 29 and nine after that 10-0 run.
27-11: Memphis’ scoring advantage from the free throw line
Memphis came into Monday’s matchup in the top three in the NBA in free throws attempted and free throws given up per game. Only part of that proposition bore out. Memphis shot 27-of-35 from the line in the win, to Dallas’ 11-of-15 in the loss. It wasn’t surprising that the Mavericks couldn’t find an offensive identity without Dončić and Irving or any semblance of an offensive rhythm after the first quarter on Monday, but the 16-point advantage at the line more than accounted for the 15-point margin when the final buzzer sounded.
17-of-53: Naji Marshall, Klay Thompson and PJ Washington combined shooting
Without Dallas’ top two, the Mavs were depending on the law firm of Marshall, Thompson and Washington to do the heavy lifting and maybe even lead the team to a win against a Western Conference foe who might be hurting even worse than the Mavericks right now. Shooting a combined 17-of-53 (32.1%) from the field is not going to get it done.
It was Marshall’s first game back after that four-game suspension for touching up the extremely punchable Yusuf Nurkic in a 98-89 win over the Phoenix Suns on Dec. 27, so he’s got a built-in excuse there, plus he filled up the rest of the stat sheet with six boards, three assists and two steals. Thompson took some awkward shot attempts inside the arc throughout the first half, turning a respectable 3-of-8 from 3-point range into a disgusting 5-of-16 night overall. Washington picked up his fourth foul early in the third quarter but was a chucker the rest of the night. It’s true, without Luka and Kyrie, these guys don’t have the same amount of space to get their shot off, but they clanged a bunch of open looks in Monday’s loss, too.