There’s no shame in losing to the defending NBA champions on their court, even with its funky paint job.
The way the Mavericks did it, however, supplied lots of film-session fodder for the coaching staff. The Denver Nuggets ripped out to a 40-24 lead after one quarter and the Mavericks spent the rest of the night digging out of the hole, unsuccessfully.
“When you give up 40 points to champions, they’re going to make you pay,” Kyrie Irving said. “And they did that the rest of the night.
“But we made our runs. There’s some positives to take out of it, but again, there’s some things we got to fix moving forward.”
That laundry list will include turnovers, rebounding and, in particular, defensive rebounding. The Nuggets had 19 offensive boards that they turned into 20 points. The Mavericks mustered only eight second-chance points.
It doesn’t take a math major to figure out that when you lose 125-114, a 12-point difference in second opportunities is a difference-maker.
“We went small a few times and they took advantage,” Irving said. “(You get a lot of) long rebounds off those threes and those long rebounds kind of killed us.”
As Luka Dončić said: “Sometimes we got to go with a little bigger lineup. They have a lot of people that can get offensive rebounds. We got to box out, play physical.”
The good news was that Irving was back in the lineup after missing a pair of games with a left foot sprain. He had 22 points, seven assists and four steals. And he said the two-game absence may have some residual positive impact.
“We’re still building toward being a complete team,” Irving said. “I’ve been out of the lineup the last two games – out there again and trying not to overthink and play efficient basketball.
“I started off the season not necessarily having my legs underneath me and having those two games off really gave me a rest period that I needed and will put me in a better position moving forward for the season.”
That’s the good news. Here’s the takeaways from Friday’s loss, which contains news not quite as uplifting.
Learning can be painful: Dereck Lively II has had a wonderful start to his NBA career. The Mavericks went 4-0 and Lively was a positive at both ends of the court for the most part. But he’s a 19-year-old rookie. And he’s only just starting his journey. There is lots to learn and Friday gave him a hard lesson as the 7-1 center never got a handle on two-time MVP Nikola Jokic. Lively had just four rebounds in 25 minutes. “I think he learned what it’s like to play at altitude,” acting coach Sean Sweeney said as he filled in for Jason Kidd. “Each day he’s learned. Nothing changes for him. For a guy like that who has such a great work ethic and desire, you can’t skip steps. Sometimes it’s a little faster. But you got to take each step one by one. It’s like anything else. You take a test, you study for it, you get graded on it, make your corrections and then you get ready for the next one. Games come fast and for a guy like that it’s a great learning experience. And now we minimize some of the mistakes and keep going.” If it’s a consolation, Lively has a big fan in Denver coach Michael Malone, who said before the game that he thought drafting him was a great move by the Mavericks. “They are a heavy pick-and-roll team. And shooters are everywhere,” Malone said. “You need a dynamic roller. You need somebody who can set screens for Luka and Kyrie and can be an above-the-rim finisher. So he puts a lot of pressure on your rim. It’s not just adding talent. You got to add pieces that compliment one another. And I think he really compliments their roster.”
Home/road/home/road/repeat: The Mavericks have started the season alternating road and home games, a trend that will continue through the back-to-back that starts Sunday at home against Charlotte and goes to Orlando Monday night. Having no extended stays at home (or on the road) is a bit taxing on the body. “The one game home, one game away, for me is the worst part,” Luka said. “But that’s the NBA. You can’t complain about it. Some people have better schedules, some people have worse. We all play the same games, so you can’t complain about it.” Irving said he’s seen similar schedules in the past, but not like this. “It’s a test, mentally and physically. We are the best in the world and we do have to recover and do everything possible to be at our best. But we’re human at the end of the day and emotions come in and a little tiredness comes in. So we just use that to see where we can be better and conditioning is going to be a large part of that.”
Joker’s wild: Nicola Jokic made 14-of-16 shots against the Mavericks and, frankly, nobody could remember the two he missed. The Nuggets were plus-17 when he was on the floor. He had 33 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists. “We play through Nikola a ton and Luka has the ball in his hands a ton,” Denver coach Michael Malone said. “They’re MVP candidates every year for a reason.” Luka had by far the best plus/minus among the Mavericks’ starters (minus-4). And if not for his nine turnovers, this might have been a much more interesting game. But give Jokic his laurels. He showed the Mavericks the complete package.
X: @ESefko
Share and comment