Stats Rundown: 6 numbers to know from the Mavericks’ 120-117 loss at Golden State

Three straight clutch losses in a row for the Mavs, and this thing is in a bad way 11 games into the 2024-25 season.

Steph Curry’s fourth-quarter heroics ruined Klay Thompson’s return to The Bay on Tuesday, as the Golden State Warriors (9-2) handed the Dallas Mavericks (5-6) their third straight clutch loss at the Chase Center, 120-117.

Thompson hit six 3-pointers in his first game against the Warriors in a Mavericks uniform, but Dallas’ inability to rebound consistently and a tendency toward cold stretches on offense brought the Mavs down to earth.

Curry led all scorers with 37 points in the win, while Luka Dončić led the Mavs with 31 points and eight rebounds in the loss. Thompson and Kyrie Irving combined for 43 more, but it wasn’t enough against a balanced Warriors attack.

6: First-quarter Mavs turnovers

A little 9-0 Warriors run gave the game the feel of a blowout early on, but the Mavericks absorbed the body blows and stayed connected despite turning the ball over six times in the first quarter.

Draymond Green picked off an errant pass from Kyrie Irving midway through the first and started a break that finished with a De’Anthony Melton 3-pointer to put Golden State up 22-14. Naji Marshall, who has been installed in the starting lineup in P.J. Washington’s absence, turned it over twice in the quarter. The Warriors hit five 3-pointers in the first and took a 33-27 lead after one.

Dallas came into the game averaging 12 turnovers per game but turned the ball over 17 times in the loss at Golden State.

16-2: Mavs’ second-quarter run to take the lead

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After two free throws from Moses Moody less than three minutes into the second quarter, the Mavs again found themselves trailing by seven, down 39-32 at the time. Golden State had full control of the proceedings and was kind enough to just let the Mavs hang around.

That’s when Luka Dončić made a decided effort on a couple consecutive possessions to get to the rim, and the Dallas offense blossomed. He drove and found Gafford for a demonstrative slam in the lane before getting his own at the rim on the next two possessions to pull the Mavs to within one, down 39-38 with 8:20 left in the first half.

When Dončić exited the game, the run continued. Klay Thompson hit long 3-pointers from the wing in the span of 30 seconds as the Mavs built their first lead of the game, up 48-41 less than two minutes later.

Dallas took a 63-59 lead into halftime behind their best stretch of basketball of the young season. It didn’t hurt that Golden State shot just 1-of-7 from beyond the 3-point line in the second quarter, either.

13-3: Golden State run to open third quarter

The Mavericks gave it all back, though, right out of halftime, as the Warriors went on a 13-3 run to start the second half. Thompson hit his fourth 3-pointer of the game on a find from Marshall to put the Mavs up 66-63 early in the third, but he missed his next two badly and watched Steph Curry heat up on the other end. Curry’s long pull-up 3-ball with 8:04 gave the Warriors a 72-66 lead, and the Mavs were once again vaguely discombobulated.

That vague discombobulation reared its head most often on Tuesday with the starting lineup of Dončić, Irving, Thompson, Marshall and Gafford on the floor. The Mavs got off to piss-poor starts to both halves, and that has become a recurring theme to start the season. It’s not an effective combination at the moment for whatever reason. I’m willing to accept the explanation that shots just aren’t falling for this particular group right now, but it’s glaring.

That lineup was a collective minus-22 in what ended up being a three-point loss.

18: Golden State offensive rebounds

The Mavs continue to have trouble with the basic basketball concept of limiting the opponent to one shot per possession. Shots either will or won’t fall, but the lack of effort in finishing defensive possessions has Mavs fans everywhere pulling their hair out at this point in the season.

The Houston Rockets came into the day’s action leading the NBA in offensive rebounds per game, at 15.0 per contest. The Mavericks had given up 15 offensive rebounds to the Warriors at the end of three quarters on Tuesday. Golden State gobbled up extra possession after extra possession on their way to the win that could have easily been a loss had Dallas given the slightest effort to box out and clean the glass.

Dallas is dealing with injuries, and that has its effects, sure, but effort cannot be scratched from the lineup. There is no excuse for leaving home without it.

6-of-12: Klay Thompson 3-point shooting

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Thompson got better as the game wore on and was ready for the big moment when it came. His fifth 3-point make came on a laser of an assist from Dončić in the short corner and put the Mavs up 105-104 with 5:43 left to play. His sixth came less than 30 seconds later on a find from Quentin Grimes, who was notably the first Maverick off the bench in Tuesday’s win after getting the cold shoulder from head coach Jason Kidd in some recent losses.

Thompson was a steadying presence for the Mavs, giving Dallas a lift with timely shooting when the offense sputtered at times. He finished with 22 points and four rebounds on 6-of-12 shooting from deep.

10: Consecutive clutch points from Steph Curry late

Those two Thompson 3-pointers were part of a Dallas spurt that put them ahead 112-105 with 4:30 left to play. But Curry went on a personal 10-0 run in crunch time to turn the tide once and for all. After Melton hit his second 3-pointer to pull the Warriors to within 112-108, Curry willed himself into a white-hot streak, hitting two perimeter jumpers and two huge 3-pointers in the next two and a half minutes to break the Mavs’ collective back. He gave the Mavericks his patented “night-night” hand gesture and let roar with a demonstrative yell after hitting his fifth 3-ball of the game over Dereck Lively II at the top of the key to put the Warriors up 118-114 with 26 seconds to play.

Just in case Thompson’s heroics cast any doubt on who runs things in the Bay, Curry scored the Warriors’ last 12 points of the game to put an exclamation point on the night Klay Thompson came back to town. Curry scored 37 points on 14-of-27 shooting (5-of-12 from 3-point range) and dished nine assists in the win.