MILWAUKEE – Sometimes, it’s the little things.
Yes, shooting and scoring points and stopping the other guy all are big things, important facets of basketball.
But once in a while, you have to dig deep and analyze the little things that cost you (or earn you) basketball games in the NBA.
With the Mavericks on a four-game losing streak after dropping all three games on their trip against Eastern Conference royalty, they will return home for exactly one game – Tuesday against Golden State. That’s no picnic since the Warriors are playing better now than they were earlier in the month and appear to be correcting their road woes after winning at Minnesota on Sunday.
Sitting at 9-10 after the 124-115 loss at Milwaukee Sunday, the Mavericks wouldn’t be in the playoffs (or even the play-in tournament) if they started today.
That’s OK, because they don’t start today. Or anytime in the near future.
So they have time to start paying attention to the smallest details, which we’ll look at in today’s takeaways from last night’s setback and the 0-3 trip.
WHEN IT’S FREE, TAKE THREE: Or at least two. The Mavericks weren’t able to do that when it came to their free-throw shooting on Sunday. They hit just 16-of-25 from the line (64 percent). Luka Dončić was terrible, making just four of nine from the stripe. OK, making all 25 of their free throws is probably asking too much. But if they had, the Mavericks would have matched the Bucks’ 124 points. Giannis Antetokounmpo is a below-average free-thrower and has been struggling of late. But he came through with 8-of-10 from the line against the Mavericks (even though he took as much as 15 seconds to shoot some of them).
DEFENSE BEGINS WITH FOCUS, ENDS WITH REBOUNDING: This may be a little bit bigger thing than the free throws, but it’s still not the sort of glitzy topic everybody wants to hear or talk about. The Mavericks have had troubles with their defensive rotations on this trip. They don’t seem to be there when they’re supposed to be there to help teammates. It’s called scrambling to help and they have to pay a greater attention to the details, as several players said on this trip. And then there’s the rebounding. In their four-game losing streak, the Mavericks have been outrebounded every time. They got beat by 25 boards in the three games on this trip. That’s a lot of possessions to have to make up somewhere during the course of 48 minutes.
NUMBERS TO GNAW ON: Milwaukee scored 52 points in the paint. They made 17 three-pointers. They made 11 free throws. That’s 114 of their 124 points. So they had only 10 points from two-point range outside the paint. The Mavericks had 38 points in the paint, 17 three-pointers and 16 free throws. That’s 105 of their 115 points. So they, also, only had 10 points from two-point range outside the paint. We bring you this factoid simply to illustrate the way NBA teams – virtually all NBA teams – work these days. Coaches cringe when they see an 18-foot jump shot. Floaters in the paint? Great. Layups and dunks? Awesome. Three-pointers? Even better. But a 16-footer on the baseline? They got no use for it. That’s what the NBA is these days.
Twitter: @ESefko
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