The Dallas Mavericks lost to the Utah Jazz 115-113 on Thursday night and have now fallen to 5-7 to begin the season, marking the worst start for the team through 12 games since the 2020-21 season.
Dallas is now under .500 through the first 12 games of the season for the first time since the 2019-20 season, in which the team started just 4-8 and eventually missed the playoffs with a record of 33-49.
The Mavericks are on a four-game losing streak over a six-day period and are ranked 12th in the Western Conference, trailing the San Antonio Spurs by one game for the 10th seed and final playoff spot.
But what has gone wrong for the Mavericks to begin the season?
Slow Starts
The Mavericks have opened multiple games this season trailing by the end of the first quarter, forcing the team to play a different style of basketball in the remaining three quarters as it attempts to make a comeback.
Dallas is currently 22nd in the league with an average of 26.8 first-quarter points while also shooting just 45.1% from the field and an abysmal 28.3% from behind the three-point line.
Although the Mavericks improve upon these shooting and scoring splits in the second quarter, the team still ranks only 12th in the league in first-half scoring with an average of 56.3 points per first half.
Mavericks Head Coach Jason Kidd addressed these first-half concerns following previous games, saying that the team is still “trying to learn who we are” to open the year.
“Again, the energy is something that we can hold them accountable for. The one thing you can control is your effort and energy, and right now our energy is low and we got to be better with that,” he explained after a loss to the Phoenix Suns on November 8, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Collapsing in Clutch Moments
Dallas has struggled heavily in games that have come down to the final minutes through the first portion of the season, with six of the Mavericks’ seven losses coming by seven or fewer points.
The Mavericks’ offense has continued to function during the final minutes of close games with the team’s offensive rating dropping slightly from an average of 114.3 to 111.5 in clutch moments.
On the other hand, the Mavericks have broken down substantially on the defensive side of the ball during the closing moments of games.
Dallas’ average defensive rating of 111.6 through the first 12 games of the season is the 12th-best ranking of any team in the league; however, this defensive performance plummets in crunch time as the Mavericks fall to the 26th-best team in the league with a defensive rating of 132.1.
With the team losing multiple games by only one possession to begin the season, the impact of these issues on defense likely plays an even bigger role in why the team has fallen below .500.
The Mavericks will have an opportunity to bounce back from this slow start to the season with a matchup against the Spurs on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in a game that will impact both the current playoff standings and future seeding.