The Dallas Mavericks fell flat in a surprising 110-108 loss to the NBA-worst Orlando Magic on Sunday night. The Mavericks arrived in Orlando having won 12 of 15 games in January, while the Magic had earned just ten wins all season.
Orlando (11-40) earned their 11th win of the year in an upset over Dallas (29-22) despite another stat-stuffing performance from Luka Doncic.
Doncic had 34 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists for his fifth triple-double in January alone and 43rd of his career, though he also had six turnovers.
The Mavericks had 18 total turnovers, which the Magic turned into 26 points. Entering the game, Dallas was averaging the fewest turnovers per game in the NBA at 12.4.
The Mavericks went completely cold down the stretch. Dallas was scoreless in the game’s final five minutes thanks to eight consecutive missed shot attempts, all of which were three-pointers. Despite this, Dallas still possessed the ball, only down two points with 16.5 seconds left in the game.
Doncic seemed like the primary candidate for the team’s final shot attempt. However, the Orlando defense keyed in on Doncic, forcing him into passing the ball to Maxi Kleber in the corner, who missed a three-pointer. Reggie Bullock gathered the rebound and attempted a last-second floater that bounced off the rim as the final buzzer rang.
“He did everything right,” coach Jason Kidd said of Doncic passing up the last shot. “That’s what champions do, and that’s what leaders do. They have trust that their teammates are going to make the right play and knock down shots.”
“He made the right plays tonight down the stretch. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to make one of those eight 3′s,” Kidd added.
Doncic did not even have a shot attempt in the final four minutes of the game, as the Orlando defense began using double-teams to force the ball out of his hands.
“If we had another game, if next game they double me, I would still do the same thing,” Doncic said. “The shots didn’t go in.”
The Mavericks were without second-leading scorer Kristaps Porzingis, as he remained in Dallas to rest a sore right knee. The supporting cast was led by Jalen Brunson, who had 15 points, and Marquese Chriss, who added 14 points and four steals.
The Mavericks had control for a lot of the game, winning every quarter except for the second. Dallas held a 34-23 lead to start quarter two, but Orlando wiped that away with a 41-point second quarter in which they outscored the Mavericks by 16 points. Dallas went into halftime down 64-59.
The start of the third quarter was a continuation of the second for the Mavericks. Dallas missed several open shots while their defense allowed the Magic to convert on easy shot attempts. Despite this, the game never got out of hand for Dallas, and they trailed by just three points to start the fourth.
Orlando was aggressive to start the fourth, but the Mavericks hung around and took a 106-102 lead with just over five minutes to go in the game. The scoreless drought ensued as Dallas would only add two more free throws the remainder of the game. The Magic outscored the Mavericks by six points to end the game and secure the surprising victory.
“We came out at halftime with better energy and kind of waited too long to turn it back on,” Chriss said.
“It just shows it’s an NBA team, and they’re going out there to compete and win, and anybody can lose.”
Dallas finishes this month of January at 12-5, the franchise’s best single-month record since they went 13-5 in January 2012.
The impressive record brought the Mavericks from one game below .500 to the No.6 standing in the Western Conference, but just one game behind the No.4 team, the Utah Jazz.
Next, Dallas begins a streak of six consecutive home games when they host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday.