Without Porzingis and Doncic, the Dallas Mavericks had a rough weekend following a record-breaking 139-107 win on the road over the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday.
On Friday, the Pelicans visited Dallas and returned the favor with a 107-91 victory. New Orleans handed the Mavericks their largest margin of defeat so far this season, as Dallas played without Kristaps Porzingis. The following day, the Memphis Grizzlies went into Dallas, who were without Porzingis and Luka Doncic, and won 97-90 to give the Mavericks four straight home losses.
The loss to the Pelicans is without question the worse loss of the year for Dallas. New Orleans entered the game with a 6-18 record and had just been thoroughly defeated by the Mavericks two nights prior.
Even without Porzingis, the loss is somewhat inexplicable, as Dallas had played multiple games without Porzingis this season and entered the game with a 9-1 record against teams with losing records this year.
“We can’t take anybody lightly,” Dallas head coach Jason Kidd said postgame. “Anybody can be beaten… and so to understand that what happened the game before, it’s over, this is a different game, we have to understand that. We have to be grownups about that.”
Both teams started slow; Dallas committed eight turnovers and scored only 19 points in the first quarter. New Orleans made only 2 of their first 20 shot attempts and did not crack 20 points scored until a few minutes into the second quarter. The Mavericks could not take advantage of the Pelicans’ inept offense and held only a 48-44 lead at halftime.
New Orleans took over the game in the third quarter, opening on a 19-6 run and outsourcing Dallas 35-20 overall in the frame. The Pelicans took an 11-point lead into the fourth, and the Mavericks could not consistently make shots to get back in the game.
Doncic finished with 21 points and ten rebounds, but he made only 7-of-20 shot attempts, including 0-of-6 three-point attempts. Dallas committed 15 turnovers on the night, seven of which were committed by Doncic.
“That game was on me,” Doncic said postgame, “my energy was down. I played very bad, and I’ve just got to be better than that.”
Dallas had very little time to assess their inexplicable loss as they faced off against the Memphis Grizzlies the very next night.
The Mavericks were short-handed, without Porzingis for the second straight game, and without Doncic, who sat out with what coach Kidd said was “lingering soreness” from injuries he suffered in their November 15 win over the Denver Nuggets that caused him to miss three games.
Without their two star players, Dallas struggled. They trailed by double-digits less than four minutes into the game and did not score 20 points in either the first or second quarters. Memphis, whose record improved to 13-10 with the win, held a 49-37 lead at halftime, and 72-58 after three quarters. It certainly felt that the Grizzlies would win comfortably.
However, Dallas’ Tim Hardaway Jr. exploded in the fourth quarter, scoring 20 of his 29 total points on the night in the final frame. Hardaway helped trim the lead down to five with 1:45 remaining, but the team’s poor performance in the first three quarters was too much to overcome.
With the loss, the Mavericks drop to 0-4 in games without Doncic and 3-4 in games without Porzingis this season. Overall, they have lost seven of their last nine games, and their record now sits at 11-11.
“We can get discouraged, especially not playing well at home in this stretch, but with injuries and everything, there’s no excuse,” coach Kidd said postgame. “This group has been together. They’ve been through a lot.”
On December 7, Dallas will play at home in their next game against the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets hold the best record in the Eastern Conference at 16-7.
Doncic is reportedly questionable to play in the game, but Porzingis is probable to play.