The Mavericks were like a jet airliner missing its two engines on Friday night.
They had to find some auxiliary power.
They got some in the form of a couple of players who haven’t seen a lot of court time this season, but it wasn’t enough to overtake the front-running Detroit Pistons, who scored a 107-89 victory over the Mavericks at American Airlines Center.
Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving were grounded with nagging injuries after the Mavericks had clinched their playoff fate with wins earlier in the week at Miami and Charlotte.
So the Mavericks turned to a mix-and-match lineup that featured Jaden Hardy and O-Max Prosper. There were some encouraging moments from both, but the Mavericks were playing from behind virtually all night and never mustered enough gas power to run down the Pistons.
They did cut a double-figure margin down to six on a couple of occasions in the fourth quarter. But they never could get over the hump.
Hardy, the second year guard, showed off a lot of his offensive skills with 25 points, along with seven rebounds. All 14 Mavericks who suited up played.
Prosper, the rookie who has spent most of the season playing for the G League Texas Legends, had 16 points and six rebounds to go with two steals. He looked far more active than he did in limited play earlier in the season.
“O-Max I thought was great,” coach Jason Kidd said. “When you look at where he started in October to where he is today, massive jump. I give credit to the development group and the G-League for that. His future is bright as we go forward.”
Kidd praised the energy Prosper showed and the way he’s handled a challenging rookie season.
“The group that has had their hands on him in the G-League, he’s never complained about being in the G-League,” Kidd said. “He’s worked extremely hard and you can see that’s paid off. As we go forward next year, he’ll be fighting for rotation minutes. Which is a great thing for our depth.”
Hardy, meanwhile, continues to show his offensive tools pretty much any time he plays. And he figures to get more opportunities in the coming seasons.
He also summed up rather well what it’s like to play without Luka and Kyrie.
“It’s a bit different,” Hardy said. “When they’re on the floor, they’re the ones being keyed in on. Without them, I’m typically the one being keyed in on as a scorer. So I’m trying to learn when I’m out there and they’re not out there.”
There is no teacher like experience. Kidd said that he likes the opportunity to get younger players some meaningful time in regular season games while the heavy lifters rest.
“Very exciting, very promising when you talk about Hardy and O-Max,” Kidd said. ” Those two didn’t get a lot of minutes this season because of our depth. Again, as we move forward with contracts and trades, those are two young guys if others are gone or hurt.”
Unfortunately, it didn’t translate into a win. The Mavericks lost for just the third time since March 6 and saw their five-game winning streak end.
While they fell to 50-31, Detroit got just their 14th win of the season against 67 losses, easily the worst record in the NBA.
Not that any of that really mattered much.
The Mavericks have already clinched the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference playoffs. They will play the Los Angeles Clippers in the best-of-seven first round with Games 1 and 2 in LA.
So it made sense to tend to some nagging aches and pains.
They were without Dončić and Irving. Dončić was out with left ankle soreness, Irving was tending to a sore left hamstring. Neither injury is considered serious. But both were in need of some rest for muscles and joints that have had six months of NBA pounding with more to come in the playoffs starting April 20.
And, by the way, the duo will sit out again in Oklahoma City, which will be fighting for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference in Sunday’s meeting with the Mavericks. Kidd said the only starter from Friday that will play in that game is Tim Hardaway Jr.
The Mavericks went with a patchwork lineup that featured Dante Exum and Hardaway in the starting lineup with usual starters on the front line Daniel Gafford, P.J. Washington and Derrick Jones Jr. None of those three played more than 15 minutes, however.
“Everybody was on a minutes restriction,” Kidd said. The early going was not particularly good in the early going as the Mavericks trailed throughout the first half, eventually trailing 53-46 at halftime.
The main highlight early in the night probably came before tipoff, when Luka was presented with his Western Conference player of the month award for March.
He then thanked the crowd as part of fan appreciation night at the arena, which included a pregame party on the plaza outside of AAC.
And, as is usually the case, the visiting coach had some interesting thoughts on why Luka has improved even over his greatness of previous years.
“He’s always been able to score the ball, but the passing is just phenomenal,” said Monty Williams, the Detroit coach who led Phoenix and, before that, New Orleans. “His pass is always on target. You try your best to put big guys in his face to complement your pick and roll coverage. You run different defenses at him and you’re just hoping that he messes up. He’s just that good.
“He reminds me of Magic (Johnson) in that way. Those guys are big and had great vision, play at their own pace, understood everybody around him. That’s probably one of the reasons why I didn’t get a lot of sleep in the West going up against him a lot.”
X: @ESefko
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