DALLAS – Saturday was one of those short-term memory games for the Dallas Mavericks. In other words, it’s imperative that the Mavs have a short-term memory after what happened to them against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Unable to effectively shoot the ball or stop Memphis from effectively shooting it, the Mavs wound up suffering their worst loss of the season, losing to the Grizzlies, 111-81, before a sellout crowd of 20,333 at American Airlines Center.
The Mavs shot just 30.6 percent from the field and missed 33 of their 40 attempts from 3-point range and dropped to 27-35 on the season. Meanwhile, the Grizzles shot 50 percent from the field and converted 14 of their 34 baskets from beyond the 3-point arc.
Guard Devin Harris said: “For whatever reason we didn’t come out with the right mindset, and obviously we let our shot-making – or lack thereof – kind of dictate the game. They came out and played harder, they got the loose balls, they were attacking us and we didn’t respond too well.
“The shot-making, obviously, it was just one of those games where we just couldn’t make shots. But from a mentality standpoint we just got to be better.”
The last time the Mavs led was 11-9, following a pair of free throws by Dirk Nowitzki with 7:15 remaining in the first quarter. From there, Memphis went on a 24-10 run and led 33-21 after the first quarter.
“If you are a Memphis fan you love the force that they played with, and their level of force led to a lot of good things,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “We needed to play with more force and obviously we needed to make more shots.
“They had the leverage advantage really almost the entire game and we didn’t have answers. They were physical, they drove the paint. Yes, we did have a lot of pretty good looks at the basket, but there were a lot of other things we needed to do better.”
Carlisle felt his team was too cavalier against a Grizzlies team that won the rebounding battle, 50-43.
“The NBA game isn’t a game where you can come and ease into it,” Carlisle said. “You’ve got to jump into it, and we just didn’t do that.
“It starts with how I prepare the team and we weren’t as prepared as needed to be, so it’s on me.”
Memphis bolted ahead 62-49 at the half and its lead mushroomed to 90-67 after the third quarter and to as high as 109-73 following a 3-pointer by Javon Carter with 1:52 left in the game.
Luka Doncic led the Mavs with 22 points, Dwight Powell had 13 points, eight rebounds and two steals, and Tim Hardaway Jr. finished with 10 points on 3-of-10 shots in 21 minutes.
“I felt a little under the weather today,” said Hardaway, who missed Friday’s practice with an illness. “I just wanted to give it a go.
“The second half I felt a lot better. I got a lot of it out my system.”
Asked to explain what happened to the Mavs overall against the Grizzlies, Hardaway said: “There’s nothing to explain. We got our butts kicked. Plain and simple.”
In the second half alone the Mavs scored just 32 points and were 10-of-40 from the field for 25 percent an 4-of-20 from 3-point land for 20 percent.
“You want to win every single game you go out there and play,” Hardaway said. “Tonight I felt like there was a lid in the second half on that basket, and we couldn’t get any stops.
“Their guys, give them credit, they played hard, made tough shots, made their open shots and took advantage of our defense.”
It marked the fifth time this season the Mavs have lost a game by 20 or more points.
“We’ve got to learn from it,” Carlisle said. “There were two or three plays in the first half where they’re 50-50 balls and they get down on the floor and we don’t.
“They set a very physical tone. We’ve got good guys and they are good competitors, but we all fell short tonight. That’s the bottom line.”
The Mavs hope to store this game deep into their memory bank before boarding a plane to start a three-game road trip Monday at Brooklyn.
“This is a very easy one to forget, and obviously I’m pretty sure coach is going to have us ready to play in Brooklyn,” Harris said. “Not much to remember.
“It wasn’t really X and O things we weren’t doing. We just didn’t play hard enough.”
NOTES: Courtney Lee hasn’t played but six games and averaged 8.7 minutes since coming to the Mavs in a Jan. 31 trade with the New York Knicks. “He’s given us some good minutes,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “We know he’s a good player. We just happened to be loaded up with wing guys, so he hasn’t gotten a lot of looks. But he’s in the gym early, stays late, keeps himself ready. He’s in great shape. He’s worked to get in better shape since he got here, because he didn’t play a whole lot in New York, either. But as a pro and as a guy that can guard ones and twos and threes — and is going to take open shots and make good solid plays — he’s got to be ready to play because we need him.” Lee played 12 minutes against the Grizzlies and finished with two pints and one rebound and was 1-of-4 from the field. . .Dirk Nowitzki grabbed his first offensive rebound of the season in the first quarter of Saturday’s game against Memphis. He wound up with seven points and a season-high seven rebounds and was 2-of-10 from the floor in 23 minutes. “I thought he was active on the boards,” Carlisle said. “He had one or two tip-outs. As the season has gone on and he’s continued to put the work in, his feet are more solidly under him.”. .When Mike Conley Jr. became a free agent in the summer of 2016, the Mavs were one of the teams pursuing the talented point guard. Conley, however, eventually signed a five-year, $153 million contract to remain with the Memphis Grizzlies. “We knew he was a great player, and spending time with him talking basketball, he’s got an amazing aptitude for the game, really, at both ends of the floor,” Carlisle said. “He’s another guy just from his first year just continues to get better and better and better, and it’s just been unlucky that he hasn’t been an All-Star because he’s an All-Star caliber player for sure.”
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