In the event of a victory, Dallas would have returned to a tie with the Thunder, in 10th place in the West. Problem: the Mavericks lost again, losing to Miami (129-122) for the sixth time in seven games…
However, Jason Kidd’s squad was very efficient offensively, with 42 points at 17/25 shooting for Luka Doncic, 31 points at 11/15 for Tim Hardaway Jr. and 23 points at 10/17 for Kyrie Irving . Dallas even shot 61% success in the match, including 41% from 3-pointers! And that’s still not enough to win.
“To me, it’s quite frustrating, but I will always stay positive”, assures Tim Hardaway Jr. “You just have to play hard. Play hard, with the energy of desperation and anything can happen, man. I still believe in it. »
With this defeat, and with only four games left to play, the Mavericks find themselves again two games behind the Thunder (who has the tiebreaker). Suffice to say that a place in the Top 10 now becomes very hypothetical, not to mention the qualification for the first round of the playoffs.
“Always the same problems in the first quarter”continues THJ. “I don’t know what to tell you. If you let the opponent score more than 40 points in a quarter, you have no chance of winning. »
Dallas thus lost the first quarter 44-31, the entry of substitutes at the end of the period having allowed Miami to place an 11-0 which forced Luka Doncic and his comrades to chase after the score all game. . The Slovenian was also particularly disillusioned, complaining almost continuously to the referees in attack, but also to his teammates during the multiple delays and defensive errors…
“It’s always the same problem. The attack is going well but if we give 130 points in four quarters, it’s complicated to win.
“It’s always the same problem” did he let go on Dallas’ problematic defense. “The attack is going well but if we give 130 points in four quarters, it’s difficult to win. »
An observation logically shared by Jason Kidd.
“We didn’t end the first quarter in the right way and stopped at 31 points, but they continued, and our defense was non-existent”lamented the coach. “We couldn’t make any stops. In the second period, we managed a “run”. Offensively, we shot 61%, so it wasn’t the offense (which was the problem). It was the defense, because we couldn’t make any stops”.
This match was a new illustration of the problems of the Mavericks, and its unbalanced workforce. Inside, Dwight Powell and Maxi Kleber piled up the fouls in the first half, and Jimmy Butler only needed a simple pick-and-roll with Cody Zeller to find open shots, under the circle or behind the 3-point line.
With a big lack of defenders capable of pushing opponents away from the circle and making the necessary assists, to compensate for the limits of Luka Doncic or Kyrie Irving in the field, this team is far too fragile. And if it doesn’t even reach the play-in, the roster risks being severely shaken during the offseason…
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Luka Doncic | 62 | 36.3 | 49.6 | 34.9 | 74.0 | 0.9 | 7.8 | 8.7 | 8.1 | 3.7 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 32.8 |
| Kyrie Irving | 17 | 37.2 | 49.8 | 39.1 | 94.0 | 1.1 | 4.1 | 5.2 | 5.9 | 1.9 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 2.8 | 26.1 |
| Spencer Dinwiddie | 53 | 34.1 | 45.5 | 40.5 | 82.1 | 0.4 | 2.7 | 3.1 | 5.3 | 1.7 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 2.3 | 17.7 |
| Christian Wood | 64 | 26.1 | 51.8 | 36.8 | 77.8 | 1.3 | 6.1 | 7.4 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 2.6 | 16.8 |
| Tim Hardaway Jr. | 68 | 30.3 | 39.4 | 37.9 | 76.6 | 0.3 | 3.2 | 3.5 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 1.7 | 14.1 |
| Josh Green | 57 | 25.4 | 53.3 | 40.4 | 72.3 | 0.9 | 2.0 | 2.9 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 2.6 | 9.2 |
| Dorian Finney Smith | 40 | 32.2 | 41.6 | 35.5 | 75.0 | 1.7 | 3.0 | 4.7 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 9.1 |
| jade hardy | 43 | 14.7 | 43.5 | 41.7 | 84.0 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 8.8 |
| Kemba Walker | 9 | 16.0 | 42.1 | 25.0 | 81.0 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 1.8 | 2.1 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 8.0 |
| Reggie Bullock | 74 | 30.7 | 41.0 | 38.3 | 70.3 | 0.4 | 3.3 | 3.7 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 2.2 | 7.3 |
| Dwight Powell | 72 | 19.4 | 72.7 | 0.0 | 66.9 | 2.0 | 2.2 | 4.2 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 2.8 | 6.9 |
| Maxi Kléber | 34 | 25.9 | 45.6 | 35.2 | 70.3 | 0.9 | 2.9 | 3.7 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 2.4 | 6.1 |
| Davis Bertans | 42 | 10.6 | 42.8 | 39.3 | 83.3 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 4.2 |
| Javale Mcgee | 39 | 8.1 | 61.9 | 25.0 | 59.5 | 0.7 | 1.8 | 2.5 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 4.2 |
| Justin Holiday | 15 | 16.1 | 37.9 | 31.8 | 50.0 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 1.7 | 4.0 |
| Mckinley Wright Iv | 25 | 11.3 | 47.3 | 31.8 | 68.8 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 2.0 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 3.5 |
| Tyler Dorsey | 3 | 2.8 | 80.0 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.0 |
| Aj Lawson | 12 | 5.1 | 48.0 | 43.8 | 33.3 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 2.7 |
| Frank Ntilikina | 45 | 11.8 | 36.0 | 25.0 | 70.4 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 2.6 |
| Markieff Morris | 6 | 5.8 | 50.0 | 42.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 1.5 | 2.2 |
| Chris Silva | 1 | 3.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Theo Pinson | 38 | 6.6 | 32.8 | 34.1 | 81.8 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 1.7 |
| Facundo Campazzo | 8 | 6.5 | 23.1 | 27.3 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 1.3 |
