To say the Dallas Mavericks had huge problems getting the ball in the basket Wednesday night against the stubborn
Houston Rockets is a huge understatement.
The Mavs put up a season-high 102 field goal attempts and made just 31 of them for a season-low 30.4 percent. They also attempted a franchise record 55 shots from behind the three-point arc, and converted only 12 of them for 21.8 percent.
In other words, this was a night where practically nothing was falling for the Mavs.
“We didn’t shoot the ball straight,” coach Jason Kidd said. “When you don’t shoot the ball straight and the ball doesn’t touch the paint, you know, there’s a couple of things (wrong).”
Spencer Dinwiddie scored 98 points in the previous four games, but was held to just nine points on 3-of-18 shooting against Houston. Dorian Finney-Smith tallied only seven points on 3-of-11 shooting, and Reggie Bullock was scoreless while missing all six of his field goal attempts. Together, that trio was just 2-of-23 from downtown.
“If me, Reggie and Spencer made some of those threes, it’ll be a different game,” Finney-Smith said. “But the ball just didn’t go in.
“We probably settled a little bit too much for the three, but we got good looks. Well, I got good looks, so we’ve got to make shots.”
Here are the three takeaways from the 101-92 loss to the Rockets.
BLOCK PARTY: One after another, the Rockets repeatedly kept blocking field goal attempts by the Mavs. By the time this game was over, the Rockets had amassed an incredible 19 blocked shots. That’s the most blocks ever by a Mavs’ opponent. It’s also the most blocks by the Rockets since they had a franchise record 20 blocks 38 years ago Wednesday. Eight different Rockets recorded at least one block.
REBOUNDS AND PAINT POINTS: One reason the Mavs were unable to win this game was because they got rebounded by the Rockets by a sizeable 56-38 margin. The Rockets had six players collect at least seven rebounds, including 11 by guard Kevin Porter Jr. Houston also enjoyed a hefty 46-32 advantage in points scored in the paint.
DONCIC’S MVP PUSH: If what transpired Wednesday night doesn’t convince voters for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award that the trophy is Luka Doncic’s to lose, I’m not sure what will. Not only were the Mavs unable to defeat a Houston team that was the league’s worst. But the loss came after the Rockets came to town losers in nine of their previous 10 games. Doncic sat out Wednesday’s game so he could get some rest.
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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