LAS VEGAS – Although he obviously wanted a winning outcome, Dallas Mavericks summer league coach Jared Dudley can accept 
Saturday’s 90-89 loss to the Utah Jazz.
However, in analyzing Monday’s 108-88 blowout loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, Dudley said that was unacceptable.
And that’s why Dudley took his team through a film session and then a practice session in preparation for Wednesday’s 2 p.m. tipoff against the Miami Heat at the Thomas & Mack Center that will be televised on ESPN2 and Bally Sports Southwest.
“When we lost by that one point to Utah, that was a good game,” Dudley said. “It could have gone either way, and as the coach you can go, ‘You know what, you tried your best.’
“(The Grizzlies)? They punked us, they bullied us, out-coached us from top to bottom. So, everyone should have to look at yourself in the mirror and want to come to practice energetic to get better, and then now we can see if it transfers over.”
The game against Miami will be the third NBA 2k25 Summer League contest for the Mavs as they try to improve on their 0-2 record. Certainly, Dudley got his players attention a day after that debacle against the Grizzlies, in which the Mavs turned the ball over an amazing 27 times.
“We had about a 45-minute film session – offense and defense,” Dudley said. “We came in here today and got about an hour-and-45-minute work in, and for me this is when you get to go in and you kind of break it down slow and small, and then have them do it repetitively.
“Sometimes it’s easy to go through it just the first time. It’s the second and third re-drives and the defensive breakdowns. So, we got to do long extended defensive drills, and I was happy with the effort and was happy with their unselfishness on some of our transition drills. So, let’s see now if it carries over tomorrow morning.”
The players, Dudley said, didn’t say much during the film session. The film told the story, along with words from Dudley.
“The players aren’t going to say too much,” Dudley said. “They nod their heads.
“No one wants to be embarrassed the way we were (against Memphis). It starts from the coaching staff down. I think from there, it’s how do we get better, how do we solve it, how do we show improvements?”
Mavs forward Olivier-Maxence Prosper showed some improvements from the game against the Jazz when he was 2-of-11 from the field to the game against the Grizzlies when he was 6-of-14 from the floor.
“It’s all about improving game-to-game,” Prosper said. “It wasn’t a pretty film session, but we’ve got to learn from it. That’s what summer league is for.
“You learn from our mistakes to being in those situations, and now we got another opportunity against another good team to build and learn from the mistakes in order to play better and start the game better.”
The Mavs had 12 turnovers in the first quarter against Memphis, and 17 at halftime.
“I think when it started we let the pressure get to us, and I think I just settled into the game later on,” Prosper said. “I calmed myself down and just made the right reads down the stretch and played the right way and slowed myself down.”
More than anything, Dudley just wants to see his team make some improvements and learn a thing or two from the 20-point loss to the Grizzlies.
“Sometimes it’s not wins and losses,” Dudley said. “Obviously, you want to win every single game.
“But I want to see, ‘Can you listen to what I’m saying, play through the five, when to cut, defensively be at the nail?’ Sometimes good offense beats good defense, and you can live with that.”
What’s difficult for Dudley to live with is a game like the one against the Grizzlies when the Mavs were never in the game after falling behind, 13-0. Hence, the film and practice sessions so a few items could be repeatedly pointed out and corrected.
“Memphis is way more physical (than Miami), but if you were watching film on us, wouldn’t you press?,” Dudley asked. “So I expect that. We went over that to clean that up.
“If you don’t see 100 re-drives tomorrow, it’s on me. This is what coaching is about when you get an ass-kicking like we did, and to be able to watch the film slowly with O-Max and (Melvin) Ajinca and our whole team, particularly them two where turnovers and good shots, bad shots and defense (are discussed).”
JASON KIDD ON LINE ONE: Dudley was in constant communication with coach Jason Kidd following the summer league losses to Uta
h and Memphis.
“I call him after every game,” Dudley said. “We talk about different stuff whether it’s the challenge of the first game, being up 10, of when to use your timeouts, it’s smart to use your timeouts, what you could have done differently rotation-wise, who should play a little bit more, who should play a little bit less.
“After the last game (against Memphis), we kind of had to laugh it off. Sometimes while something is so embarrassing it can be funny. They literally had seven, nine steals in the backcourt just ripping (the ball away) one-on-one. That is one of the rarest things that you’ll see. You might see it one time a game. We saw it seven or eight, so it’s something that I got to do a better job of putting in screens, different people bringing the ball up . . . which we worked on here today. When you have 27 turnovers, you’re not beating anyone.”
IRVING’S SURGERY: Mavs guard Kyrie Irving underwent surgery to repair a broken left hand.
According to the Mavs, Irving suffered the injury while training earlier this month.
With the acquisition of Klay Thompson from the Golden State Warriors earlier this month, the Mavs are expecting to have one of the most explosive Big 3s the NBA has next season in Luka Dončić, Irving and Thompson.
Irving averaged 25.6 points and 5.2 assists for the Mavs last season and was a primary reason why they were able to reach the NBA Finals for the first time since 2011. The Mavs did not provide a timetable on when Irving will be able to return to basketball activities.
BRIEFLY: Both Utah and Memphis each played three summer league games in Utah before they played the Mavs. Summer league coach Jared Dudley wasn’t making excuses, but he believes that gave those teams ample time to work out the kinks before they arrived in Las Vegas to play in this particular summer league. “It’s huge, but at the end of the day we went to the (NBA) Finals last year,” Dudley said. “We’re not trying to win a summer league championship, even though it should be the goal. What it is (is) it’s brought us development.” . . . In discussing guard Brandon Williams, who suffered a shoulder sprain in Monday’s game against Memphis, Dudley said: “B-Will will probably be questionable. But if he’s not going to be able to play, then you have other guys who will have opportunities to get a chance (to play).” . . . Mavs forward PJ Washington and Lively have been sitting courtside during the team’s summer league games. “It’s awesome, man,” forward Olivier-Maxence Prosper said. “Those are my guys. They’ve just been part of the (summer league) team and showing that they support us and they want us to succeed. And being there for us, it’s always great to have them around. It shows how close we are as a team. We’re all one unit, one organization, and we’re all here for each other.”
X: @DwainPrice
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