The Dallas Mavericks (34-35) fell to the Memphis Grizzlies (41-24) Monday evening on ESPN, 104-88. Former TCU standout Desmond Bane led the Grizzlies with 23 factors, seven rebounds, and 7 assists. Jaden Hardy was the excessive level man within the sport with 28, however he wanted 25 pictures to get there. Dallas falls to underneath .500 for the primary time since mid-December.
The Mavericks opened the sport lacking their high three scorers in Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, and Christian Wood. Despite that, the staff got here out firing and led by Jaden Hardy’s 14 factors, managed to maintain tempo with the Grizzlies. Early foul bother plagued Jaren Jackson Jr. of Memphis and that performed a component within the Dallas capability to maintain issues shut. After twelve minutes, Dallas trailed 29-25.
The second body noticed the Mavericks slowly rally again. As Memphis continued to bomb and miss from past the arc, Josh Green and Dallas stored issues shut and pulled head within the second half of the quarter. The two groups traded baskets for the rest of the interval with a McKinley Wright bucket giving Dallas a 50-49 lead on the half.
Dallas missed their first eight pictures of the second half, which resulted in Memphis constructing a double digit lead. Tim Hardaway Jr. gave Dallas one other harm scare, seemed like a calf or foot downside, solely to come back again into the sport. Memphis was unable to increase the lead previous ten till the ultimate minutes of the quarter, the place the lead jumped to as excessive as 16. Memphis headed into the ultimate body up 85-71.
The remaining quarter had some enjoyable Dallas offense… however they couldn’t cease the Grizzlies to avoid wasting their lives. After the lead expanded to 19 with 4 minutes left, this grew to become an end-of-bench contest with each groups attempting to get out of the sport with out harm. Dallas fell to the Memphis Grizzlies, 104-88.
Now, some ideas…
Falling underneath .500 modifications the narrative
Dallas has loads of causes for this slide and each certainly one of them has benefit. Injuries to an already skinny staff leads to losses. It’s not rocket science. And but, for a staff that made the Western Conference Finals final season, the present document and place within the playoff race is fairly unacceptable.
The Mavericks play 8 of their subsequent 10 video games on the highway they usually’re simply 12-21 on the highway this season. Granted, a few of these video games are in opposition to fairly weak competitors, so Dallas has an opportunity to regain some floor. But time is working out.
Josh Green’s effectivity
In 27 minutes, Josh Green scored 23 factors on 10-15 capturing to go together with 5 rebounds and 7 assists. That he practically matched and handed Desmond Bane’s line is fairly spectacular contemplating how hampered Green was with foul bother (5 within the sport). It’s good to see Green have some life again after a number of video games the place his field rating was poor and his total affect was minimal. He’s developed into a really stable participant this season.
Big man depth cant rebound
After the Saturday loss to Memphis, head coach Jason Kidd famous that Christian Wood didn’t play a lot due to “he depth that we have with all the bigs”. With Wood lacking the sport resulting from harm, the massive man rotation of Dwight Powell, Maxi Kleber, Davis Bertans, and Markieff Morris mixed for 9 factors and 11 rebounds. That stinks. Jaden Hardy at 6’4” led the Mavericks with eight rebounds and 5’11” McKinley Wright was second on the staff with six. Have some delight guys.
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