SAN FRANCISCO – From a realistic standpoint, the Dallas Mavericks can be forgiven for what transpired Tuesday night at the
Chase Center.
After all, the game against the Golden State Warriors was the Mavs’ fifth on the road in nine days. Those five games were played in three different time zones, and included a pair of trips to Northern California, and even involved a trip to Texas to battle the Houston Rockets after which the Mavs jetted back to California.
The fact that the game against the Warriors was still nip-and-tuck down to the wire speaks volumes about the fight the Mavs had in them even when their gas tank was running extremely low.
“The road trip — is long,” coach Jason Kidd said following the 104-100 loss to the Warriors. “But we’re not going to use that as an excuse.
“We truly believe we put ourselves in position to win (Tuesday’s) game, but we came up short.”
Guard Kyrie Irving summed up the Mavs’ plight entering the game against the Warriors by saying: “I mean, I’m human just like the rest of my teammates. So, 10 days on the road. . .definitely feeling it this last game.”
The road trip started with a game on March 29 in Utah, and the next day the Mavs played in Sacramento. The NBA schedule-maker kept the Mavs in 
Sacramento the remainder of last week, where they played the Kings again this past Friday.
From there, the Mavs flew back to Texas to play the Rockets this past Sunday. Then, it was off to San Francisco to play the Warriors on Tuesday before the Mavs flew home on Wednesday after wrapping up an impressive 4-1 road trip.
The Mavs are now 11-1 since they started using a lineup that includes Daniel Gafford, P.J. Washington, Derrick Jones Jr., Luka Dončić and Irving. Considering the traveling constraints, making that a perfect 12-0 would have been almost unrealistic.
“I thought we fought hard,” Washington said. “Holding a team like that to 104 in their building is very good.
“Obviously, there’s some things we can work on and learn from this game. I’m happy with the way we came out and fought for the whole game.”
Here are the three takeaways from the Warriors’ four-point win over the Mavs.
WIGGINS STEPPED UP: Andrew Wiggins had one of those rare nights when he led the Warriors in scoring. Wiggins scored 23 points on 8-of-16
shots. He also was 3-of-5 from beyond the three-point line. It was just the fifth time this season Wiggins has led the Warriors in scoring.
MISSED OPPORTUNITY: On a night when the Mavs held Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson to a combined total of 27 points on 10-of-32 shooting, Dallas was unable to take advantage of the solid defense they played against the Warriors’ All-Star backcourt. Thompson was 5-of-14 from the field and scored 14 points, while Curry was 5-of-18 from the field and tallied just 13 points. Thompson was only 2-of-8 on three-pointers, and Curry was 3-of-5 from downtown.
BOARD WORK: The Mavs were without backup center Dereck Lively II, who sat out Tuesday’s game with a sprained right knee. Thus, the Mavs were taken out of their normal 1-2 center punch of Daniel Gafford and Lively. With that, the Warriors outrebounded the Mavs, 52-42, including 11-8 on the offensive end of the floor. Trayce Jackson-Davis and Brandin Podziemski each grabbed 10 rebounds for the Warriors. Golden State also outscored the Mavs in second-chance points,14-4.
X: @DwainPrice
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