A young team that believes it is on the road to greatness never gets to the final destination without some detours, breakdowns or flat tires.
That’s why the Mavericks are consulting the atlas right now, if not pulling out the jack to fix a blowout.
They’ve lost their way when it comes to closing out games that are there for the taking. They’ve had five-point leads in the final three minutes in each of their last three losses, yet found a way to cough up the leads and the games.
Execution at crunch time of games that are hanging in the balance has been problematic, to say the least, which is why the Mavericks spent a lot of time on that very issue at Thursday’s practice.
On Wednesday, they lost 107-106 to Denver at American Airlines Center despite having a 106-101 lead with under two minutes left.
The Mavericks were 2-of-8 with two turnovers in the final five minutes of the game and that doesn’t include the final possession when the ball was passed into the backcourt but never touched. It didn’t go down as a turnover, but it squashed their final chance to win.
“Last night we did a lot of good things,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “But we were not good down the stretch. And we worked on some things today (Thursday) – execution, both offensively and defensively.
“And it’s not just the end of the game. We’re faltering at end-of-quarter execution as well. We worked on that. We just got to clean it up and be better. We have a tendency to get loose at times and with the way games are today in the NBA with so many close ones, you can’t give points away.”
The Mavericks are 4-11 in games that have been decided by six points or less – or in overtime, since the Lakers who visit Friday night won by nine points in overtime in their other visit to AAC.
What the Mavericks know is that this trend has to change. They are going to be confronted with more of these situations. It’s inevitable. And while the Mavericks have a young team with a lot of players who have never been to the playoffs, they are going to have to grow up fast with regard to winning close games in the final possessions.
Being young is not an excuse.
“We got to really be together in these difficult games,” Carlisle said. “It is (a young team), but we don’t make excuses. We know we’re capable. We’ve been able to execute plenty of times the right way. We got to be honest with ourselves and be truthful and we got to attack it and get better.”
Luka Doncic, of course, is the youngest of the young. He turns 21 next month, but he’s already an MVP candidate.
So what can a young team do to work on pressure-packed situations?
“Practice shots and make them,” Doncic said. “I think we would have five, six more wins if we close out games better. But I’m looking at the good side. We got to learn. We’re gonna learn. And we got to get better.”
The good news, Carlisle said, is that the Mavericks aren’t floundering with no hope. They are 23-14, solidly in the playoff picture in the Western Conference and with plenty of opportunities upcoming to improve their position.
The fact that they are 7-8 since Dec. 8 simply means they are going through the sort of water-treading stretch that virtually every team hits during a long season.
“That’s the story of the NBA,” Carlisle said. “When things are going bad, you’re never that far from them going good and vice-versa. It’s all very tenuous.
“But we got to stick together. When any of this stuff happens, it’s going to be my responsibility. I’m going to take the pressure off these guys. It is a young team, but we’re not making excuses about it. We just got to get better.”
Twitter: @ESefko
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