The Dallas Mavericks suffered a tough 130-92 blowout loss against the Golden State Warriors in a late-night game on the West Coast Tuesday night.
The 38-point margin is the Mavericks’ largest margin of defeat this season, and the 130 points that the Warriors scored are the most Dallas has allowed thus far as well.
Unfortunately, the Mavericks suffered more in Tuesday’s game than just their most lopsided loss of the year.
Key role player Tim Hardaway Jr. suffered a foot injury in the second quarter when he drove to the rim and drew a foul. The 29-year-old guard appeared to land normally, and the foul was not physical, but he came up limping afterward.
Hardaway Jr. still got to the free-throw line and made both of his attempts. But then he had to be carried off the court by Director of Player Health and Performance Casey Smith and reserve guard Theo Pinson, who took him straight to the locker room.
A few minutes later, the TV broadcast crew announced that Hardaway Jr. suffered a fractured bone in his foot. The team later confirmed the injury on social media. Hardaway Jr. is now expected to be out for an indefinite amount of time.
Hardaway Jr. left the game with ten points, all of which came in the second quarter. The Mavericks will miss his production off the bench. This season he has averaged 14.2 points per game in an average of nearly 30 minutes per game.
“That’s just bad luck,” Luka Doncic said postgame of Hardaway Jr.’s injury. “I talked to him. He was disappointed. Every time you get injured, you’re sad, so we tried to cheer him up.”
Aside from Hardaway Jr.’s early exit, Kristaps Porzingis also made an early departure. Halfway through the fourth quarter, with the win well out of reach for the Mavericks, Porzingis turned the ball over near the basket then immediately kicked the ball into the stands.
The referees called a technical foul then announced that Porzingis would be ejected. That sequence pretty much summed up the Mavericks’ performance in the blowout loss.
Despite sitting out the entire fourth quarter when the Dallas loss was inevitable, Luka Doncic was the highest scorer on both teams with 25 points. Jalen Brunson was the only other Maverick to score double-digits with 11 points, while Porzingis had nine points and seven rebounds at the time of his ejection.
“Just the whole game not going our way at all, especially not my way at all,” Porzingis said postgame about his ejection. “Frustration accumulated, and [I] reacted wrong. I want to apologize to all those fans that were sitting right there. It wasn’t my intention to kick the ball towards them at all. Just yeah, just frustration on my side, and that’s it. We’ll move past this loss, tough loss. Got our ass kicked today, and the good thing is, we’ve got another one tomorrow.”
Dallas’ last three games have all been against the top three teams in the Western Conference. They lost two of the three, losing to No. 1 Phoenix and No. 2 Golden State with a victory over No. 3 Memphis in between.
The Mavericks schedule now eases up substantially. Their next four games are against opponents with losing records who are currently outside of the playoff picture, starting with the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night.
The Dallas (27-21) defense that has been phenomenal this season faltered in this game. They dared the Warriors to attempt three-point shots, and they delivered. Golden State (35-13) made 17-of-43 (39.5%) three-pointers despite their superstar player Stephen Curry making only two-of-ten three-pointers.
Meanwhile, the Warriors‘ ball movement was on point. They assisted on 31 of the team’s 49 made shot attempts. In contrast, the Mavericks had 17 assists on its 32 made baskets and converted on just 10-of-40 (25%) three-point attempts.
Doncic was the lone bright spot in every aspect. He made four-of-seven three-pointers while the rest of the team made just six. It is only the second time that Doncic has made at least four three-pointers in a game since December 8.
“Luka was Luka,” head coach Jason Kidd said postgame. “We couldn’t get anybody to join him offensively or defensively.”