Key plays, moments and stats for the Mavericks 108 – 102 loss to the Rockets
The Mavericks lost 108-102 to their in-state rival, the Houston Rockets, on Halloween night. The previous meeting between these two teams was last season, when Dante Exum drilled a buzzer-beating three to force overtime, resulting in an eventual win. The Rockets certainly wanted to exorcise that memory and ended up doing exactly that, outworking the Mavericks for the majority of the game. By the time the Mavericks woke up and made a meaningful run, they had all but run out of time. Here is The Good, The Bad & The Ugly from Thursday night’s loss.
The Good
Kyrie Irving
If you tuned in to watch only the fourth quarter, you may have been lead to believe the Mavs were locked in for the duration of a close game, but if you read through to the end of this article you’ll find out quick that wasn’t the case. That said, Kyrie Irving was the bright spot for the Mavs throughout the night. Throughout the game he hit timely shots to keep the team from getting completely blown off the floor. His shooting stayed red-hot as he went 10-for-20 overall and a smoking 5-for-6 from three. He also nailed a very long 2-pointer to beat the third quarter buzzer. Kyrie seems to have found his groove and he shined bright in this one.
The Bad
The first half effort
I am hard-pressed to remember a recent game where the Mavs looked this bad in the opening half. Yes, there are games where the team is just “off” and gets down big – this is the case for any team in the NBA on any given night. What we saw in the first half was something different though. The Mavs were utterly outplayed. Outside the last few minutes of the second quarter when the Mavs woke up a bit, the Rockets simply got what they wanted when they wanted.
The loss
Early in the NBA season, records can look a lot like they do in the NFL. A single game looks more dramatic in the early goings and tonight is a perfect example. A win would have brought the Mavs record to 4-1, but instead the loss dropped them to 3-2. Elite vs. mediocre. Getting past the optics of an early season record, this loss is bad for how it went down. It also marks the second time the Mavs have lost a game they seemingly should have won. It is not at all unreasonable to think the Mavericks could be 5-0 right now, but disjointed play and a general malaise have made them look very average. This game more than fits the category of a “bad loss.”
The Ugly
Giving up threes
The Rockets’ first three shots were from beyond the arc and they converted on two of them. The Mavs have some room for improvement when it comes to closing out on the three in the early days of the season. This wasn’t the first time an opponent got wide open looks, but opening the game down by six should not happen.
Too many fouls
As they did in the opening quarter against the Suns a few days ago, the Mavs were far too foul prone. In the first quarter alone, they committed seven fouls, resulting in the Rockets going 6-for-7 from the charity stripe. Giving up that many freebies is a big reason they had to dig out of a 13-point deficit after 12 minutes of play. Three Mavericks players ended the game with four or more fouls, including Luka, Dereck Lively and Daniel Gafford. The bench time Lively and Gafford certainly played a part
Rockets’ offensive rebounds
The bench time Lively and Gafford experienced due to foul trouble certainly played a part in how many offensive rebounds the Rockets grabbed, but the team must do better even when they are forced to go small. The Rockets grabbed a staggering 18 offensive rebounds and blew the Mavs up on total rebounds to the tune of 50-to-37. This game is an entirely different story if the Mavs take away just half of those.
Luka’s frustration
With 5:33 left in the third quarter, Luka drove to the hole and was frustrated after a miss because he thought he was fouled. To the naked eye in real time, it seemed as though he had a legitimate gripe, but he vented his frustration by taking a swipe at Alperen Sengun, which put him at the free throw line due to the Mavs being over the limit. Luka turned a 14-point deficit into a 16-point deficit while picking up his fourth foul.
3 point shooting
In the first three quarters, Kyrie Irving was the only Maverick that logged a made three-pointer. He was 4-for-4 to that point, while the rest of the team was 0-for-13.
You can listen to our latest podcast episode in the player embedded below, and to make sure you don’t miss a single one moving forward, subscribe to the Pod Maverick podcast feed on Apple, Spotify, Pandora, Pocketcasts, YouTube, YouTube Podcasts, Amazon Music, Castbox.
You can check out our After Dark Recap podcasts, YouTube Live recordings, and guest shows on the Pod Maverick Podcast feed. Please subscribe, rate, and review.