INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The Maverick’s primary concern no longer is making the SoFi Play-In Tournament. With Phoenix’s free-fall, staying in the top 10 in the Western Conference is a virtual lock for the Mavericks.
But getting a home game to start the tournament? That became less certain on Friday night.
The Mavericks suffered a 114-91 setback to the Los Angeles Clippers at the glitzy Intuit Dome. Meanwhile, the Sacramento Kings dusted the Charlotte Hornets, 125-102, and they now have the same number of losses – 40 – as the Mavericks. The Kings have won 37 games, the Mavericks 38.
With Sacramento owning the tiebreaker, the two teams will be battling it out to see who will host the first play-in game, which will be on April 16. The Mavericks announced on Friday that, if they do host a play-in game, all season-ticket holders will be provided tickets to that game.
To say the least, it will take bigger performances than Friday night for the Mavericks to make sure their season-ticket holders get that reward for their loyalty.
The Mavericks shot poorly (0-of-12 from three-point land in the first half, 4-of-20 for the game) and had 18 turnovers. It was a bad combination.
“We didn’t take care of the ball and they capitalized on that,” coach Jason Kidd said. “We talked about that before – we got to take care of the ball. They got great hands and anticipate well.
“They’re a good defensive team and we got to take care of the ball. I thought our spacing was a little bad, but they got their hands on a lot of balls. And those turnovers turn into points. We got to be better tomorrow.”
There were some mitigating circumstances for the Mavericks’ subpar showing. Anthony Davis sat out Friday’s game for management of the injury to his left adductor muscle that he only returned from last week.
It is a good bet that he will return to action in Saturday night’s rematch in LA, but it did not help the Mavericks on Friday that their superstar big man was missing. The Mavericks also were without Dereck Lively II who sat out as he continues his comeback from a right ankle stress fracture. He, too, could be ready to play on a restricted-minutes basis on Saturday.
Things got even tougher for the Mavericks when Klay Thompson left the game with an illness after playing just 11 minutes. He would not return and his status for Saturday is uncertain.
And if that wasn’t enough, Jaden Hardy, one of the few Mavericks who aggressively attacked the Clippers’ defense, went out late in the game with a sprained ankle and was having crutches delivered to him in the postgame locker room.
“It’s tough because he was trending in the right direction,” Kidd said. “He was one of the guys who was scoring for us tonight. Hopefully, it’s not too bad.”
The only bit of good news for the Mavericks was that P.J. Washington was back in action after missing Wednesday’s game against Atlanta with an illness.
They clearly weren’t the same without Davis as the Clippers had no trouble stifling them in the first quarter en route to a 29-16 lead. It was Kawhi Leonard and Ivica Zubac who poured the foundation under which the Mavericks were buried.
Zubac had a double-double in the second quarter and Leonard had 14 of his team-best 20 points before halftime, when the Clippers led 58-35.
That rendered the second half inconsequential. The Mavericks were down by 20 points or more most of the way. A big reason was the Clippers’ defense.
“It is what it is sometimes,” said Naji Marshall, who led the Mavericks with 22 points. “Shout out to the Clippers. They’re an unbelievable team. They’ve been playing good basketball lately and they played a good game.”
What is it that the Clips were doing so well defensively?
“What all great teams do: (They were) physical, together, they pack the paint, they rotate, they talk. A lot of veteran guys over there,” Marshall said.
In addition to their shoddy shooting in the first half, the Mavericks were victimized by the Clippers’ scrappy defense. They were consistently deflecting passes and playing havoc with the Mavericks’ offense, which was off-kilter to begin with in Davis’ absence.
The Clippers got two three-pointers from Bogdan Bogdanovic to open the fourth quarter, extending their lead to 87-60, so it was understandable if the Mavericks’ attention drifted to the West standings.
The Kings are 37-40 and have games left at Cleveland and Detroit, then finish with home games against Denver, the LA Clippers and Phoenix.
The Mavericks remaining games are at the Clippers, at home against the LA Lakers and Toronto, then finishing on the road at Memphis.
If the Mavericks can get to .500 (41-41) at the end of the season, that probably would be enough to get them the home game in the No. 9 vs. No. 10 play-in game. Win that, and the Mavericks would hit the road to play the loser of the game between the Nos. 7 and 8 seeds.
X: @ESefko
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