Unfortunately for the Dallas Mavericks, they didn’t give their fans much to cheer about on Wednesday night.
Donovan Mitchell scored 34 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers worked the Mavs over inside the paint while cruising to a 105-90 victory at American Airlines Center. The loss dropped the Mavs to 14-14, while the Cavs improved to 18-11.
The Mavs looked disjointed from the start as they fell behind, 16-2, less than five minutes into the game. Faced with staring at that steep hill, the Mavs were threading water all night after starting out 1-of-9 from the field while the Cavs converted seven of its first nine shots.
Luka Doncic, who scored 30 points and distributed six assists, paid homage to the Cavs, who improved to 18-11 while the Mavs fell to 14-14.
“They’re a really good team,” Doncic said. “They have two seven-footers in the paint (in Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen), which is tough to get to the paint.
“They have (Lamar) Stevens, who is strong and big. And then on the offense, they have Darius (Garland) and Mitchell. They have a pretty big team (and) a great team.”
The Cavs were great enough to outscore the Mavs in the paint, 52-26. And they were great enough to limit the Mavs to 39.2 percent shooting while making 52.6 percent of their won shots.
This also was the Mavs’ second-lowest scoring output of the season. (Orlando held the Mavs to just 87 points during a seven-point victory for the Magic on Nov. 9).
Indeed, it was a night where points were hard to come by for the Mavs.
“The areas where we improved, especially, we can’t put our heads down when a play happens consecutive times,” said Christian Wood, who finished with 20 points and seven boards. “We have to figure out how to stop them.”
The Mavs will finish this homestand Friday against Portland before traveling to Cleveland for a rematch with the Cavs on Saturday that starts a four-game road trip.
Cleveland mounted a 58-35 lead late in the second quarter and appeared well on its way to winning easily. But the Mavs regrouped and sliced the deficit down to 91-82 early in the fourth quarter.
However, the Cavs countered with three-pointers from Mitchell and Stevens and a pair of dunks from Mobley to build the lead to 101-84 with 4:19 remaining.
Mitchell came in averaging 29 points per game and almost had that covered in the first half when he poured in 27 points on 10-of-12 shots,
including 5-of-6 three-pointers. Whatever little breathing room the Mavs gave Mitchell, he managed to seize the moment and take over the game.
When the Cavs went on a back-breaking 17-0 run to forge ahead, 51-30, with 3:27 remaining in the first half, Mitchell was the linchpin in that surge with 10 points. He also nailed another jumper, another three-pointer and a pair of free throws as the Cavs led, 60-41, at the game’s midway point.
“You can look at the subs, you can look at a lot of things,” coach Jason Kidd said, trying to explain the Cavs’ 17-0 run. “I just that think we couldn’t get in sync. We just couldn’t out the ball in the basket.
“You’ve got to give them credit. They’re the No. 2 team defensively in the league and they’re number two for a reason.”
The Mavs defeated Mitchell and the Utah Jazz in the first round of last season’s playoffs. Mavs forward Reggie Bullock describes Mitchell – the Cavs got him in a trade with the Jazz over the summer – as “just grit” and “hunger” and difficult to deal with.
“(He’s) a flashy
guard who kind of gets to the paint pretty much at will (and) can shoot threes in transition,” said Bullock, who scored 12 points. “He just brings another energy.
“I feel like they needed it and they already got Garland, too. So I think it was a great addition to their team.”
Perhaps Maxi Kleber, who missed the game with a sprained right knee, could have helped with some of the damage the Cavs were doing inside the paint since he is the Mavs’ best interior defender.
“Obviously, on the defensive end he’s one of our better defenders, so we miss him out there,” Doncic said of Kleber. “On the defense end he can rebound, and on offense he can shoot and space the floor. We really miss him.”
In touting the significance of Kleber’s absence while the Mavs had to face the Cavs’ tall lineup, Kidd said: “When you look at his defense first (and) his toughness. And then his ability to stretch the floor like Wood.”
Spencer Dinwiddie contributed 10 points, six rebounds and a game-high seven assists for the Mavs, who were outrebounded, 43-33.
For the most part, it was simply a flat game from the Mavs’ perspective as they produced very few offensive sparks. In the early goings, it appeared as though the Mavs just weren’t energized enough to take on a team as talented as the Cavs.
The Mavs were even whistled for a technical foul for only having four players on the court with 2.2 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
After digging that early 14-point hole, the Mavs crawled back in the game thanks to seven points from Wood, including a three-pointer that shaved Cleveland’s lead to 28-25 at the 10:18 mark of the second quarter.
And it was only a four-point game until the Cavs stretched it to 40-30 on the heels of a three-pointer and a jumper from Mitchell with 5:26 left before halftime.
Doncic, who has now scored 20 or more points in a franchise record 35 straight games – he passed Mark Aguirre on Wednesday – believes the Mavs need to knuckle down and play more efficiently on defense.
“We will figure out tomorrow what we’re going to do about defense,” Doncic said. “We just didn’t guard. We missed a bunch of layups too, especially me. I have to do way better than this. And we just have to bounce back.”
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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