There are not many good points to take away from a night like this. The game was relatively played, but the Mavericks lacked the level of execution necessary to win an NBA game. The Phoenix Suns prevailed, beating Dallas in the final stretch to win 111 to 105 and give Dallas his fifth straight loss.
In the first half, the Mavs were able to resist, but never managed to stretch the lead. The attack was visibly stagnant and the defense was … well. Thanks to a nice tip from Willie Cauley-Stein, the Mavs managed to tie the game by going to the break.
The second half is where things got interesting.
In the first offensive possession of the Mavs in the third quarter, Luka Doncic looked dejected. He hung 9 meters from the basket and let Josh Richardson and Cauley-Stein lead a two-man game that was far from beautiful. Somehow, the possession ended in a medium-sized Cauley-Stein jumper. At this point, things didn’t look like they were going to follow the Mavs’ path.
But then, Luka became nuclear. It was out in the third quarter and everything changed. The Mavs had a 15 point lead and things were really looking up. Unfortunately, as quickly as things got positive, they became negative. The Suns reached the end of the third quarter and never looked back.
Chris Paul in the fourth period is one of the most dangerous players in the NBA, and the Mavs were not able to go shot by shot with him at the end of the game. Here are three things of the loss.
Willie Cauley-Stein had a surprisingly positive impact on the game
It is no secret that Willie Cauley-Stein is not exactly a world revolutionary. He is a long, defective center that does some things well and others badly. But tonight, in the absence of Kristaps Porzingis, Cauley-Stein was surprisingly good. In 30 minutes, he finished with 14 points out of 7 out of 8 pitches to go along with nine rebounds and four blocks.
Most of all, I liked the Cauley-Stein energy level. He had active hands in defense, he was aggressive when rolling to the edge and, overall, he just looked like he belonged on a professional basketball court – something that was not always said about him.
I hope the Mavs are not in a position where they have to rely on Cauley-Stein very often, but tonight, he was solid. At this point it is impossible to expect consistency, but at least he gave the team something on Saturday night.
Energy is contagious
This is a basic concept of basketball that all high school students know. It is the reason why the benches rise to greet when a player leaves the court. It is the reason why a guy like Marcus Smart earns more than $ 10 million a year. Energy is contagious and also vital to success.
24 hours ago, in Utah, the Mavs had no power. It was embarrassing. Tonight, they did a better job of reversing that, but it still hasn’t been great. The bench looked engaged throughout the game, celebrating when something cool happened on the court, and when Dallas made that beautiful run in the third quarter, it looked like the team was having Fun. It didn’t last the entire game, but at least it made an appearance tonight. Mavs should try to have more fun.
The need for a secondary player is more obvious than ever
The simple fact of the matter is that the Mavs do not have a qualified offensive initiator who is not called Luka Doncic. When he’s not on the floor, he’s disgusting. Like, very, very disgusting.
If Porzingis is not a guy who can take his own chance (and make that move), what do they have? Trey Burke? Jalen Brunson? Josh Richardson? These guys are good enough to beat bad teams in the regular season, but they’re not good enough to beat playoff teams. Something needs to change – as soon as possible.