The Luka Doncic-less Mavericks lost to the last-place Houston Rockets, 101-92, in American Airlines Center on Wednesday.
Doncic was given the night to rest after playing 40 minutes to help prevent the Mavericks from blowing a 25-point lead in a two-point victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night.
Without Doncic, the Mavericks attempted a franchise-record 55 three-pointers and made only 12. Dallas’ 21.8% three-point shooting was the worst ever by a team with 50 or more attempts in a game, according to Stathead.com.
“I think it was tired bodies,” said Mavericks coach Jason Kidd when asked why his team could not get by the 3-12 Rockets.
“We played too many minutes last night, and that’s why guys didn’t go to the paint and settled for threes. . . “When you don’t shoot the ball straight, and the ball doesn’t touch the paint.”
Last season the Mavericks were 10-10 in games in which Doncic did not play, including 2-1 in the playoffs, but Wednesday was his first absence of this season.
Many felt his absence could be overcome against a Houston team that had lost three straight and nine of its last 10 games.
But Dallas (8-6) never led during the game’s first 14 minutes before seeming to finally gain traction when Facu Campazzo, Christian Wood, and Dorian Finney-Smith hit consecutive three-pointers to give the Mavericks their biggest lead of the night, 51-42.
However, the Rockets responded by scoring 15 unanswered to finish the first half with a 57-51 lead.
Perhaps it was weary legs, as Dallas attempted 102 shots but made only 31 of them, a paltry 30.4%, and got dominated in the rebound battle (56-38).
Starters Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Reggie Bullock all logged significant minutes against the Clippers, and it showed Wednesday as they shot a combined 2-of-23 on three-pointers.
Dinwiddie finished 3-of-18 from the field, as none of the five starters scored in double digits.
Wood (26 points), who was traded from Houston in the offseason, and Tim Hardaway Jr. (28 points) came off the bench to lead the Mavericks in scoring. But neither was very efficient, with Hardaway making 10-of-26 from the field, while Wood was 9-of-22.
The Rockets also recorded 19 blocks, their most since they had a franchise-record 20 on the same date 38 years earlier (1984). The previous high blocks an opponent had against Dallas was 16.
The last block was by Jabari Smith Jr. on a driving layup attempt by Hardaway Jr., with the Rockets leading 93-90 with three minutes remaining.
“You give a team 19 blocks, you deserve to lose,” said Hardaway. “They were protecting the paint. They did their thing.”
Kevin Porter Jr. and Jalen Green had 17 points each to lead the Rockets past the Mavericks for the first time in the Texas rivals’ last four meetings.
Not only was Dallas without Doncic, but it was also missing role players Maxi Kleber (lower back contusion) and JaVale McGee (neck strain).
“I don’t think there’s any excuse,” Hardaway said. “We’ve just got to be better; we’ve got to be better from start to finish. Everyone. We have a couple of guys banged up, but it’s always next man up. We’ll learn from this and keep moving forward.
“We played a good young team. They play fast. But, I mean, we should have taken care of business at home. We need to be better.”
Dallas fell to 8-2 at home with the loss. The Rockets never trailed again after going ahead on free throws by Smith midway through the fourth quarter, a period in which the Mavericks made just 21% of their shot attempts, including 1-of-17 from three-point range.
“We just to come out and be more prepared,” said Dorian Finney-Smith, who made a career-high seven three-pointers against the Clippers Tuesday night. “We settled a little bit, but we got great looks. We hit some of those shots, it would be a different game.”
Next up for Mavericks is consecutive home games against the Denver Nuggets. The first will be on Friday before the back end on Sunday, which will be the last of a stretch of four home games in six nights for Dallas.
