The Dallas Mavericks were defeated by the Toronto Raptors on Monday night, 116-93. The exhausted team was able to keep the game in single digits until around the third quarter, when the Raptors opened the game. Kristaps Porzingis and Kyle Lowry led their respective teams with 23 points each.
Both teams fought offensively outside the gate, but Porzingis found an early pace, putting the Mavericks at 10-9. The Mavericks struggled to buy a bucket at first, and as frustrations grew, coach Rick Carlisle received two technical fouls, driving him out of the game.
The Mavericks found their shot in the second quarter, but the Brunson / Burke squad gave up repeated attempts at the rim, allowing the Raptors to push the lead to 33-28. The Raptors extended the margin to nine, but a long stretch from James Johnson and Brunson gave the Mavericks the lead, 44-43. The score was tied at 47 to end the semester.
Doncic and Porzingis showed how good their double strike could be to open the third, with Porzingis getting two rounds from Doncic. The Mavericks apparently ran out of gas in the middle of the room, allowing the Raptors to make a long run to push the lead to the biggest high in the game, 12. They led by nine to end the room.
The wheels came out almost completely on Wednesday, with the Mavericks showing understandable signs of fatigue and exhaustion on the second night of a consecutive team and a shorthanded list. By the time Luka returned, around the eight-minute mark, the Raptors were 16, and the lead continued to increase from there.
Depth problems are reaching Dallas
The Mavericks lost Josh Richardson, Dorian Finney-Smith, Dwight Powell and Maxi Kleber tonight. Each of these players provides important contributions, and their absence from recent games has brought the Mavericks to a breaking point.
The technical team had little choice but to play with the other players, extending the minutes: Porzingis played 65 minutes combined during this consecutive game, which is not ideal considering the injury and the recovery situation. Doncic was also late in the Bulls game to give the Mavericks a final push and, as a result, looked tired on several points tonight. Tim Hardaway Jr. was back tonight, although he had a groin injury that prevented him from playing on Sunday. Hell, even Carlisle didn’t make it through the entire game today.
The Mavericks lacked any shooting appearance
Dallas had one of its worst shooting performances tonight, going 38% of the field and an abysmal 25% of three. This is partly a result of the mentioned absences, as Kleber and Finney-Smith provide reliable perimeter production. However, the three-point shooting problems are also somewhat structural. Aside from Porzingis, no one on the Mavericks is considered a pure sniper, which means that many open shots from Doncic’s brilliant passes were often missed tonight, as well as in other games.
Hardaway had an O-fer tonight, going 0 to 12 on the field and 0 to 6 in three. He hesitated on pitches that he would not normally think twice about, and on other occasions he made really horrible pitches, like a pitch bar on the free throw line with a Raptor player in his face and at least one pass option available. He is certainly capable of recovery, and will need it for the Mavericks to generate a quality attack.
Kristaps Porzingis was effective in his fourth game in the back
As with most other games this season with a participation in Porzingis, tonight all the ups and downs of his game have been shown. He had an efficient line of statistics, going 8 out of 14 from the field and 2 out of 5 out of three, and had a 23 point high in the game. He was also effective in painting, blocking two shots and altering a few more. This was best exemplified during the start of the third quarter, when Porzingis submitted two alley-oops and blocked two kicks while recovering the ball in a four-minute period.
On the other hand, he often tried several moves that were simply not good, especially posting. In most cases, whenever Porzingis received the ball around his elbow with his back to the basket, the result was a turn. On the defensive end, he rarely ventured out of painting, which would lead to opening three whenever he was changed to a perimeter player. This was a problem, as he shared the floor with another center in Willie Cauley-Stein. It just shows how important Kleber is now.
The Mavericks visit the Indiana Pacers for a 6 pm showdown at CT that can be seen on Fox Sports Southwest or the League Pass.