HOUSTON – Playing on the second night of a back-to-back continues to be a giant puzzle the Dallas Mavericks haven’t been able to solve on a consistent basis this season.
One night after rallying to defeat Portland at home, the Mavs had their fourth quarter rally on Monday stymied by Houston, and the Rockets went on to score a 120-104 triumph before a sellout crowd of 18,055 at the Toyota Center.
With only Wednesday’s home game left before the All-Star break, the Mavs dropped to 26-30 on the season and 6-22 on the road. Also, the Mavs are just 1-9 on the second night of a back-to-back as they failed to put things together for 48 minutes against the Rockets.
“I thought we battled really from start to finish,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “We had some stretches where we struggled, but we’ve got a group that goes hard, sticks together.
“We had a couple of good runs in the fourth, then they would come down and make a play.”
The Mavs sliced a 21-point deficit – they trailed 81-60 midway through the third quarter – down to nine to points on two occasions in the fourth quarter. The last time Jalen Brunson’s 3-pointer narrowed the gap to 109-100 with 2:52 remaining in the game.
After that, all that remained was the mystery of whether the Mavs could sustain that type of effort, along with the mystery of whether James Harden could extend his streak of scoring at least 30 points in a game to 29 games in a row.
Following Brunson’s basket, Harden had just 20 pints. But from the 2:32 mark of the fourth quarter until just 52.9 seconds remained in the game, he tallied 11 unanswered points on three 3-pointers and a pair of free throws to finish the game with 31 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and five steals.
“All the shots that he hit we pretty much had a hand in his face, so you just got to tip your hat to him,” said forward Justin Jackson, who scored nine points in 11 minutes. “(Dorian Finney-Smith) played great defense on him, and he shot not a great percentage, but he just hit some tough shots.
“Sometimes offense beats defense, so you got to tip your hat to him. But you also got to tip your hat to (Finney-Smith) and guys that guarded (Harden) as well.”
The Mavs had a sluggish start as they turned the ball over four times and fell behind 25-22 at the conclusion of the first quarter. Things got even more dicey in the second quarter when Houston outscored Dallas, 39-28, and led 64-50 at intermission.
In all, the Mavs committed 18 turnovers that the opportunistic Rockets turned into 26 points which helped decide this game.
“There were a few unforced (turnovers), but they are a team that turns you over,” Carlisle said. “Their last five wins coming into tonight they forced an average of 20 turnovers, so they turn teams over.”
Luka Doncic led the Mavs with 21 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. Doncic’s first basket of the night was one of his vintage step-back 3-pointers, which he made right in the grill of Harden, who also has made the step-back 3-point shot a main part of his repertoire.
Doncic finished the night 7-of-17 from the field and 2-of-9 from 3-point range, while Harden was 9-of-23 from the floor and 6-of-17 from beyond the 3-point arc.
“He’s an amazing player, so it’s hard to stop him,” Doncic said. “He’s going to make shots and it’s hard to guard him because you don’t know what to do with him to stop him.”
Besides Doncic, the Mavs got 13 points and five rebounds from Brunson, 12 points from Dwight Powell, and 10 points on 3-of-11 shooting from Tim Hardaway Jr., who tallied 24 points in Sunday’s one-point win over Portland.
“He had some looks, but after the game he had (Sunday) night they were paying a lot of attention to him and making it tough,” Carlisle said of Hardaway. “He’s just got to stick to the process and stay aggressive.”
The Mavs also have to stick to the process and stay aggressive during these final 26 games if they have designs on advancing to the playoffs for the first time in three years. Currently, the Mavs are four games behind the Sacramento Kings in the loss column for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot.
“We were on a back-to-back, so it’s tough, but we fought,” said Dirk Nowitzki, who tallied six points in 10 minutes. “We got to keep going for it, keep fighting and see if we can still somehow make it a fight for the eighth seed.”
NOTES: Following a review, the NBA has determined that the long 3-point attempt Luka Doncic hoisted at the conclusion of the first quarter in Sunday’s game against Portland came after the buzzer sounded. Thus, instead of Doncic’s previous stat line of 9-of-20 from the field and 4-of-10 from 3-point range, he officially finished the game against Portland 9-of-19 from the field and 4-of-9 from beyond the 3-point arc. . .Coach Rick Carlisle said he is hopeful that center Salah Mejri will be available to play in Wednesday’s home game against Miami. The Mavs waived Mejri last Wednesday, then re-signed hm on Sunday. But Mejri wasn’t active for Sunday’s game against Portland, and he didn’t make the trip to Houston for Monday’s game against Houston. . .Kristaps Porzingis said his goal is to help the Mavs win a world title within the next four or five years. “That’s the goal,” Porzingis said prior to Monday’s game against Houston. “Step by step. You don’t want to go too far ahead, but that is the goal. That is the goal, to win a championship. And that is my only goal, really. The first step to that is to make the playoffs, and then step-by-step I want to get to that place where you get to learn and then win a championship.”. .Both Luka Doncic and Houston Rockets guard James Harden are well known for their step-back 3-point shots. Doncic even performed the lethal step-back move – and converted a 3-point shot — Monday night while he was being closely guarded by Harden. “They’re both amazing playmakers,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “Of course, Luka is much younger, but there are similarities. The signature shot is always a defining trait of a player. With Dirk (Nowitzki) it became the one-legged fade. Harden and Luka both have the step-back shot, which is the one that you think of the most. There’s a similarity there. Certainly, Harden’s been around a lot longer and I’m in no way saying that they’re the same player or anything like that, but there is some similarity for sure. I view Luka as a guy that can play fast, medium or slow, and effectively in all three (areas) really.”
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