After Dallas Mavericks forward Anthony Davis turned in his worst offensive performance of the season in a 132-111 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, fans expressed concern. The Thunder snapped a three-game Mavericks win streak on Friday, where Davis finished with a lowly two points on 1-for-9 attempts.
After the loss, Davis revealed the Thunder’s defensive approach that prevented him from finding his offensive rhythm throughout the night, he said, per DLLS’ Ron Howard Jr.
“That’s most teams’ game plan, trying to, you know, when I catch the ball, have guys loaded up, specifically when I had it in the post,” Davis said. “My defender, then, they didn’t have Chet on me. So, Chet was kind of the help on the baseline. So, I didn’t even adhere to whatever the guard was, sitting at the elbow. So, there’s not much room to operate. But yeah, it was their game plan.”
The Thunder’s help defense made all the difference for Davis, who also said the Mavs didn’t do themselves any favors with their poor spacing on the offensive end of the floor.
“Our offense wasn’t good—our spacing — it was bad — the turnovers — things like that. But I hold myself, obviously, accountable for the play,” Davis added. “But we don’t have time. I don’t have time to dwell on it. We got a 23-hour turnaround, playing tomorrow. So, I’ll get prepared for tomorrow.”
Jaden Hardy’s 23 points, including 5-of-9 from deep. Naji Marshall finished with 18 points, and Cooper Flagg added 16 points.
Cooper Flagg feels ‘better’ after Anthony Davis’ return to Mavs
Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg was happy to have Anthony Davis back on the floor. Davis, with three games under his belt after a 14-game absence, helped extend the Mavs’ three-game win streak before heading into Friday’s game against the Thunder.
Flagg revealed how Davis makes things better for him and the Mavericks, who went 3-11 throughout the 14 games the NBA’s top prospect missed before Friday’s blowout loss.
“Obviously, the caliber of the player that he is. You know, I think just with him and Klay (Thompson) on the court at the same time, the amount of gravity those two guys have, pulling defenses toward them and creating space out there, it’s huge for me,” Flagg said.
On the second night of a back-to-back, the Mavericks will host the Rockets on Saturday.
