The Dallas Mavericks fell to a 127-134 loss to the Indiana Pacers at home in embarrassing fashion, as the Mavericks defense completely capitulated under the high-octane Pacers offense ran by former Mavs coach Rick Carlisle.
The Mavericks were led by Luka Doncic putting up an inefficient 35 points (9-24 FG), seven rebounds, and 15 assists while having one of his worst defensive performances of the season. Kyrie Irving got hot after a slow start and ended the night with 27 points (11-21 FG. Klay Thompson had a strong outing with 16 points (4-8 3PT) while Naji Marshall had the sixth 20-point (8-9 FG) game of his career off the bench.
The Pacers exploited the Mavericks playing without backup defensive big Dereck Lively II, ending the night with 30 points (10-17 FG) and 11 rebounds. Tyrese Haliburton had one of his first efficient games of the season by notching his fourth-consecutive double-double with 25 points (10-16 FG) and 12 assists. Pascal Siakam put up 23 points (10-16 FG) and attacked the Mavs frontline while Bennedict Mathurin put up 16 points (7-13 FG).
Here are three major takeaways from this matchup between two offensive-minded teams.
The Mavericks Need Dereck Lively II
The big news for the Mavericks before tip-off was that second-year center Dereck Lively II had been suddenly ruled out for the fixture after sustaining a shoulder injury during warmups. Lively has been Dallas’ bench big behind Daniel Gafford this season, but his multi-faceted impact on the Mavs offense and defense has made him one of their most crucial players over the last 12 months.
Without Lively as an option, the Mavericks were forced to play small ball with PJ Washington at center as Pacers big Myles Turner forced Jason Kidd to bench Daniel Gafford. Gafford played just 15 minutes in the loss, with the Mavs using athletic wings to go small instead of letting Gafford be attacked on the perimeter through switches orchestrated by Haliburton, punishing Dallas on the inside and outside.
The Pacers shot 54-95 (56.8 FG%) from the field, going 13-32 (40.6 3P%) from three and outscoring the Mavs 76-58 in the paint.
Dallas was out-rebounded by Indiana 38 to 46, as no Lively and Gafford’s unplayability forced Kidd to use smaller lineups the entire evening. Lively’s ability to hold his own on the perimeter and make defenses adjust through his finishing ability and short-roll passing made the Mavs look one-dimensional on both ends of the floor.
Three Runs Buried The Mavericks
The Mavericks need to find ways to stay locked in during poor defensive runs, a problem that hurt them in previous losses against the Phoenix Suns and Houston Rockets before rearing its head against the Pacers.
Indiana opened the game with a 15-2 run to pressure Dallas early, who slowly responded by cutting the lead to seven at the end of the first quarter and then taking a two-point lead at the end of the second quarter. The start of the third quarter saw the Pacers jump out to a 10-1 run which made the Mavs fall behind by double-digits and climb back into the game, even outscoring Indiana 36-33 in the third quarter.
Despite being within a possession of the Pacers for a majority of the fourth quarter, even tying the game up at points, the Pacers went on a game-sealing 14-4 run from 5:37 of the fourth to 1:47, virtually ending any hopes the Mavs had of winning this game. Despite Dallas still getting themselves within two possessions with a minute on the clock, the Pacers had done enough to hold on to the win.
These three runs killed the Mavericks’ positive momentum at various points, despite the Mavs looking like a more polished offensive team for large stretches of the contest.
Was This A Good Luka Doncic Performance?
Luka Doncic entered the game with averages of 28.0 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 6.2 assists on 40.4% from the field. His overall average has been boosted with his 34 points and season-high 15 assists, but he once again struggled from the field, going 9-24 (37.5%) shots in the loss. His defensive effort looked lackluster in this game, with perimeter assignments blowing by him to get layups at the rim.
Doncic’s playmaking was sensational without a doubt, notching just two turnovers on his 15 assists. His presence greatly boosted the production the Mavs received from Naji Marshall, Klay Thompson, and Spencer Dinwiddie, but his tendency of taking bizarre out-of-rhythm three-pointers hurt the Mavs’ momentum at multiple stages of this contest. Those threes also allowed the Pacers to punish the Mavs in transition without Lively on the court as well.
It’s hard to pick holes in a 34-15 performance by the league’s best point guard, but Doncic was one of the primary reasons behind the Mavs’ shockingly poor defensive performance. The standards for a good Doncic game are really high, and when there are clear holes in his performance despite the gaudy stats, it needs to be pointed out.
Calling this a bad performance by Doncic would be unfair given he’s had worse performances this season, but this isn’t the standard of ‘good’ that Doncic has shown over the last few seasons.
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