It would be understandable if the Mavericks needed a little mental floss right about now.
A little something to clean and clear the mind.
But while they have lost three in a row and six of eight, the Mavericks emerged from Wednesday’s 130-122 loss to Atlanta knowing exactly what ails them and what they need to do to fix it.
It’s going to take more elbow grease than brain power, although they need both.
“I think a lot of guys are motivated, ready to go Friday against the Heat,” said Josh Green. “It’s a situation where we need a win. We’ve dropped the last three. Now it’s a matter of being able to turn it around and be ready to go.”
It will start with defense. The Mavericks haven’t played any of late. And that’s their coach’s evaluation, not anybody on the outside of the organization.
After Wednesday’s game, Jason Kidd was blunt.
He said: “You got to keep asking or demanding for those guys to play defense. It’s not just the offensive end. Tonight, give up 130, a team shot 57 percent. It’s a shootaround. In this league, if you do that, no matter if you have Luka (Dončić) or Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar) or LeBron (James), you’re going to lose. It doesn’t matter how many points you score. you’re always going to be short. So until we put a better effort into playing defense and understanding what we have to do, then we’re going to score 120, but we’re going to give up 130 or 140. One night, we might give up 150. But we’ll be fine because we scored, so it won’t look too bad.”
It doesn’t get any more direct than that.
And so, while everything else pales in comparison to the defensive issues, here’s a few takeaways from the loss to Atlanta.
WELCOME BACK: Green was back in action after missing 20 games. Dorian Finney-Smith returned after a 14-game absence. It appears Maxi Kleber might not be far behind. The Mavericks are getting healthier. But that will put the onus on Kidd to make sure the playing rotation is right. Jaden Hardy has played well enough to earn minutes. Davis Bertans has shot the ball well enough to earn minutes. Green and Kleber will be pivotal coming off the bench. And what about Reggie Bullock, who is in the middle of a major warming-trend with his shot. It will require patience and trust by the players – and smart decisions by the coaching staff.
CARELESS MOMENTS: The Mavericks tossed the ball away 16 times. Seven of those miscues were by Dončić. But it’s possible that some of those were when Atlanta sent quick double teams and Luka’s teammates weren’t where they were supposed to be when the pass left his hands. At any rate, the carelessness with the basketball can’t happen on a regular basis.
PHYSICALITY IS BECOMING THE NORM: Dončić is seeing aggressive double teams more and more every game, it seems like. The physical style is no doubt taking its toll. He fell hard on his elbow and was flexing and rubbing his hand and wrist for most of the rest of the game. This came after he tweaked his ankle. This is becoming status quo for Luka. You hate to see players push themselves, particularly when they are nagged by lower-body injuries. Bad things tend to happen. But it’s a fact that if Luka sat out to rest body parts that weren’t exactly right, he would never play. So the Mavericks will just keep their fingers crossed as the playing time mounts up for their MVP candidate.
Twitter: @ESefko
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