Tuesday was not a pleasant night at the office for the Mavericks.
Fresh off upsetting the second-best team in the NBA on Sunday – the Minnesota Timberwolves – the Mavs fell victims to a depleted Memphis Grizzlies squad that has the third-worst record in the Western Conference, losing 120-103, before a stunned American Airlines Center sellout crowd of 20,116.
The Grizzlies were playing without their two best players – All-Stars Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. But the Mavs looked out of sync, lost the rebounding battle, 54-33, and ultimately saw their record dip to 22-16.
“When you look at the energy, the energy was flatline,” coach Jason Kidd said. “We tried everybody. We just couldn’t find any energy.
“We got it to (10 points and) started to get a little energy, and then it ballooned back up to 16 quickly. The energy from the start — we kind of just walked into this. They hit us and we could never respond.”
So, why was the energy so low in a game when – since the Grizzlies didn’t have Morant and Jackson – victory seemed inevitable?
“That’s a great question,” Kidd said. “On the highs and lows of this league, you play 82 (games). You want to be consistent. I think we’ve talked about that before. Trying to be consistent — that’s what we’re fighting to do.
“Looking at all the different combinations — small ball to smaller — didn’t work. Trying to find someone to give us a spark. We just didn’t have it tonight. But give Memphis credit. They came out and played hard.”
Ironically, it didn’t start off bad for the Mavs. They were up 16-9. Then the bottom fell out as a 20-6 run by Memphis ended the first quarter with the Grizzlies ahead, 29-22.
When Memphis opened the second quarter on a 27-12 run, suddenly the Mavs were trailing, 56-34, with 4:47 to go before halftime. And it was two local products who did the most damage to the Mavs.
Former TCU star Desmond Bane was seemingly everywhere at once for the Grizzlies while killing nearly every rally the Mavs pieced together with a well-placed bucket. Bane finished with 32 points and n
ine rebounds.
Meanwhile, former Flower Mound Marcus High School standout, Marcus Smart, collected 23 points in just 21 minutes before retiring for the night late in the third quarter with an injured right finger.
Mavs guard Kyrie Irving scored a game-high 33 points, grabbed eight rebounds and collected four steals, while Luka Doncic finished with 31 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals. However, the Mavs know they clearly let this one get away – 48 hours following that very impressive showing against the highly-regarded Timberwolves.
“When you are as co
mpetitive as this group is — and I think a lot of my peers could speak to the same thing — when you go into that locker room and you feel like you’ve had a bad loss, took your bumps and bruises in a game like tonight, a lot of minutes being played and a lot of bodies being thrown out there, just to break the rhythm of the other team and it doesn’t happen, you feel like you let yourself down, let your teammates down, let the coaching staff down, and let the fans down,” Irving said. “It is easy to feel that way, and rightfully so. I feel like that way now, just knowing that our effort could have been better.
“But this is part of the ebbs and flows of the season. We just don’t want to make this a habit.”
The Mavs, who played without injured starters Dereck Lively II and Dante Exum, got within 85-75 of the pesky Grizzlies (14-23) after Jaden Hardy (10 points) negotiated a fast break dunk with 4:48 left in the third quarter. But, Bane drained back-to-back killer three-pointers and the lead was back up to 16 less than 30 seconds later.
“He was great tonight,” Kidd said in reference to Bane. “He came out to show that he could beat us by himself without Ja or Jackson. He was really good tonight.”
Xavier Tillman also was good for the Grizzlies as he finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks, and Luke Kennard and Zaire Williams each poured in 14 points.
Overall, it was just an uneven sort of night for the Mavs, who were beat on offensive rebounds, 18-8, on second-chance points, 21-8, and fell behind 103-83 after three quarters.
“(When) we play against some of the best teams in the league, we play well, we’re up and our focus level is there,” Irving said. “(But) then we play against a team that doesn’t have Jaren and Ja and they take advantage of their opportunity and hit us in the mouth the whole entire night.”
Now the Mavs have to flush this unfortunate loss away and prepare for Thursday’s home game against former Mavs guard Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks.
“We know they’re coming in with the upmost energy,” Irving said. “They’ve got a great point guard in Jalen leading them, and other guys that are filling in their role.
“We’re looking forward to the challenge.”
X: @DwainPrice
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