DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks were defeated by the Oklahoma City on Monday night, losing by a final score of 101-94. Dallas finally solved its turnover problem, recording just eight total turnovers in the game. However, a number of other issues still need to be fixed. The defense endured ups and downs once again, a lack of play-making led to only 20 assists for Dallas, and the team continues to struggle to find the bottom of the net.
“We got a bunch of fighters that are going to compete until the end,” head coach Jason Kidd told reporters after the game. “That game could have got away from us, as much as 22 points. Understanding that we cut the lead and got it down to one and had the opportunity. We had the ball down three. The group fights.
“It's just at some point hopefully this basket can open up for us and we can make some shots, because we are getting a lot of wide open threes that we're just not making right now.”
The contest was fairly competitive in the first half, as the Thunder held a manageable 48-42 lead at the half. In the third quarter, though, OKC took complete control of the game — building their lead to 87-69. The Mavs fought back, but fell short in the end.
A huge concern was the Mavs' inability to connect on their shot attempts. The Mavericks shot just 37.9 percent from the field and 30.8 percent from beyond the arc for the entire game. The lack of assists does suggest play-making needs to improve, but it's also difficult to record a plethora of assists when shots simply aren't falling on a consistent basis.
Meanwhile, Nico Harrison's defense continues to not live up to expectations early in the year. With that being said, given the fact that the Thunder feature a dynamic offense, Monday's defensive performance was respectable aside from the third quarter. Still, this defense needs to be better.
Of course, Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II's injury absences did not help matters by any means. Their returns will positively impact the team without question.
The result of the contest was disappointing after the Mavericks turned in an impressive victory on Sunday, when they defeated the Toronto Raptors 139-129. Monday's game was never going to be an easy win, however. The Mavs' fight is undeniable, though.
“We are going to keep fighting until the end of the game, even with the bad third quarter,” Anthony Davis told reporters. “Gave ourselves a chance to win the game… We can't have those lows defensively, but we're going to keep fighting until the end and gave ourselves a chance in the second night of a back-to-back.”
The Mavericks will look to bounce back on Wednesday night in Dallas against the Indiana Pacers. Wednesday's contest will represent the Mavs' final home contest of their current five-game homestand.
