For the Dallas Mavericks, the second game of what coach Rick Carlisle described as a “murderous week” had the same sort of lousy ending that the first game of this brutal stretch had.
Kyle Lowry, Chris Boucher and Pascal Siakam combined for 63 points and the Toronto Raptors used a dominant second-half surge to wear down and defeat the shorthanded Mavs, 116-93, Monday night at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla. The loss was the third in a row for the weary Mavs, who are 6-7 and in the midst of playing five games in seven days in four different cities.
Things were so out of kilter for the Mavs that coach Rick Carlisle was ejected from the game with 58.4 seconds remaining in the first quarter with the Mavs down, 21-16. Assistant coach Jamahl Mosley took over and the Mavs tied the game at the half, 47-47.
But a 20-5 run by Toronto in the third quarter coupled with a 20-6 surge in the fourth quarter gave the Raptors a commanding 104-83 lead with 5:24 remaining in the game.
“Obviously I had a disagreement with the referee and I got tossed,” Carlisle said. “That’s how that went.
“I thought when Jamahl took over they did a great job in the second quarter – got it to a tie game at halftime. And in the second half we just didn’t have the juice. The shot-making wasn’t there, the defense wasn’t there, the junk defenses were a problem. It just wasn’t our night.”
Everything was so bad that forward Tim Hardaway Jr. that he suffered through one of the worst nights of his eight-year career. After missing Sunday’s 117-101 loss against the Chicago Bulls with a left groin strain, Hardaway was back in the starting lineup against the Raptors and went scoreless while missing all 12 of his field goal attempts, including all six of his 3-point attempts in 27 minutes.
“Tim always wants to play and it didn’t look like him tonight out there, but I’m sure he’s not going to blame the groin on the game that he had knowing him,” forward Kristaps Porzingis said. “And I know Tim personally — very close — and I know he’s going to bounce back from this.
“He’s going to put in the work necessary and he’s going to bounce back from a game like this and we’re going to bounce back from a game like this as a group.”
The Mavs shot just 37.8 percent from the field, missed 27 of their 36 attempts from 3-point land and also got outrebounded, 46-38. Even Luka Doncic only attempted 11 field goals –one shy of his season low – as the Raptors’ box-and-one defense had him making alternative plans.
“What can I say,” said Doncic, who finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and nine assists. “Every time I drove the ball I saw four people in the paint. I think that’s why I only shot 11 shots.
“They played box-and-one and they keep doubling me. So I think that’s why I took 11 shots and tried to get people involved.”
The game marked the return of guard Jalen Brunson, who missed the previous four contests due to the NBA’s health and safety protocols. Brunson started the game, played 27 minutes, was 4-of-10 from the field and 3-of-4 from beyond the 3-point arc and finished with 13 points.
“For me to be back on the court, it felt great,” Brunson said. “The first couple of minutes were a little tough for me, but once I got running up and down a little bit, I felt fine.
“I don’t recommend taking 10 days off and playing a game, but sometimes you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”
Carlisle was satisfied with the production he got from Brunson.
“All things considered I thought he did a very good job,” he said. “When guys come out of quarantine they need to work out for a period of time.
“Obviously there were no team practices that he can be involved with, so he was doing individual work. Look, tonight we just needed the help. I thought he had fresh legs, I thought he had good juice. We just didn’t play well as a team.”
The Mavs were clinging to a 56-55 lead when the Raptors went on that 20-5 scoring spree and took a 75-61 lead with 3:25 remaining in the third quarter. The rally was capped by a 3-pointer from Norman Powell.
“They’re physical, they move a lot, they’re long, they go for everything,” Porzingis said. “I don’t know if (the Raptors’ physicality) bothered us, but it definitely doesn’t make it easier.
“I think Luka, and Tim and myself and other guys, we’re all used to seeing physicality already, so it was nothing new. It just wasn’t our night. We didn’t play the best basketball, coach got kicked out because of some calls. We’ll move forward, we’ll learn from this and we’ll get better.”
Porzingis was 8-of-14 from the field and collected 23 points, nine rebounds and two blocks, Trey Burke had 17 points and a pair of steals, and James Johnson wound up with 15 points and six boards. It was rare to see Porzingis – he had knee surgery on Oct. 9 – playing on back-to-back nights.
“He’s doing better and better — I think he’s feeling better,” Carlisle said. “This is the second night of a back-to-back and he had 23 (points) and nine (rebounds). Those are good numbers. He just got to keep building on it.
“Again, this is a murderous week. Very, very difficult. But he really wanted to play tonight. The trainers thought it was fine and I thought he did a great job.”
Lowry led the Raptors (5-8) with 23 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, Boucher contributed 21 points and 10 boards, and Siakam finished with 19 points and five assists.
But the Mavs, who recently won four straight games, looked like they ran out of gas in the second half.
“I don’t like losing, it’s terrible, it just feels bad,” said Doncic, who was 4-of-11 from the field. “In the four-game winning streak everybody felt great.
“The locker room felt happy, so we’ve got to go back to that and just enjoy playing basketball.”
The Mavs will next play the Pacers in Indiana on Wednesday. And it’s too early to know if they’ll have Dorian Finney-Smith, Josh Richardson, Maxi Kleber and Dwight Powell, all of whom sat out Monday’s game because of the health and safety protocols.
“We just got to be meticulous on planning, preparation, (and) getting the right amount of rest,” Carlisle said. “We’re staying over tonight here (in Tampa) so that the guys can sleep in so we don’t get further out of whack with body clocks by getting into Indiana at 2 or 2:30 in the morning, or whatever time it would be.
“Look, we’ve got to circle the wagons and we’ve got to do better than we did tonight. And we didn’t do well (Sunday against the Bulls) either.”
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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