The Mavericks were in deep trouble at halftime on Monday night, and their coach made sure they were aware of it.
They were 16 points down to the Orlando Magic at American Airlines Center and the energy level was too low to register on any meter.
But it was nothing that a good, stern halftime chat couldn’t fix. That and a serious heater that Tim Hardaway Jr. found in the third quarter.
Coach Jason Kidd let the Mavericks know at the intermission that things were unacceptable the way they were going. And the response from his players could not have been better as they played one of their best quarters of the season to regain momentum, then gutted out a 131-129 victory over the Magic.
“I thought we had a great conversation at halftime,” Kidd said. “It was a gut-check in that locker room at halftime. I’m proud of those guys responding because it wasn’t a nice conversation.”
As Jaden Hardy said: “He wasn’t happy with us.”
And rightfully so.
After giving up 42 points in the second quarter and looking uninspired on the defensive side, they came up with a gem in the third quarter, holding the Magic to 12 points and swinging the momentum completely their way.
Luka Dončić said the Mavericks deserved a good talking-to.
“He should,” Luka said. “He had every right to do it. I’m glad he did it.”
It worked perfectly, especially with Hardaway, who burst loose in the third quarter with 15 of his 36 points during a 25-6 surge that put the Mavericks ahead 92-86.
Hardaway did a lot of scoring and a little of everything else as he had eight rebounds and a key lob assist to Dereck Lively II, who had 20 points and 11 rebounds.
And then there was Dončić, who did everything for the Mavericks’ offensively with 45 points, 15 assists and also nine rebounds, all defensive, which helped get the offense rolling.
And it all opened up things for Hardaway, too.
“Amazing man,” Dončić said of Hardaway’s night. “He didn’t force anything, played aggressive, hitting shots. It’s very tough to guard us when he’s got it going. It’s harder to double. We just swing it to him and let him make shots. It’s really hard to guard us when he’s that hot.”
Hardaway hit five of nine shots from three-point land and was 11-of-17 overall. He was quick to credit Dončić.
“When Luka has it going, you know teams are trying to double-team him,” Hardaway said. “It’s not a secret. We learned from the last couple games just to be assertive. When you have an open shot, take it. When you have an open lane, take it. Just be aggressive.”
And, of course, the halftime talk and a higher usage rate of the Mavericks’ zone defense in the third quarter, helped things turn around.
“Just communication, showing a little more effort, thinking the game on the back side of the defense,” Hardaway said. “They did a great job of attacking our defense. They had wings and corners cutting. We just had to do a better job of communicating and contesting everything.”
Not that this was a gimme down the stretch for the Mavericks.
The teams traded jabs and the lead went back and forth. The Mavericks were down 119-118 when they received a seldom-seen six free-throw possession. First, Lively was fouled and a flagrant foul was called on Wendell Carter Jr. after the play had ended.
Lively ended up with four free throws to make three. He made two. Then Hardaway was fouled and made both of his free throws for a 122-119 lead.
Paolo Banchero, who had 36 points for the Magic, missed and Josh Green maneuvered inside for a layup and a 124-119 lead with 1:08 to go.
The Mavericks held on from there, barely. Dončić made his free throws in the final seconds and the Mavericks fouled the Magic before they could get off potential tying three-pointers.
The Magic’s last gasp came when Bancharo purposely missed the second of two free throws with 3.1 seconds left. The Magic got the rebound, but Franz Wagner’s 35-foot three-pointer rattled off the rim.
The Mavericks, who got 20 points off the bench from Hardy, improved to 26-21 and stopped a three-game home losing streak. The Magic fell to 24-23.
No rest for the weary: Before Monday’s game, coach Jason Kidd said he was intent on getting Luka Dončić more rest during the game after he played more than 90 minutes in back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday.
When asked before the Orlando game what he told Luka about spending the day off on Sunday, he said:
“Rest was one. Enjoy the family. And know that you’re not going to play 46 minutes tonight. We can’t put that type of pressure on him. He loves to play the game no matter what the minutes are. But as a whole, we can’t run his minutes like that.
“We got to let other guys participate and hopefully we can put those guys in a position to be successful. But we can’t lean on him to save the day every time. He’s got to take a break. He’s got to rest.”
To that end, Kidd got Luka five full minutes of clock-time rest bridging the first and second quarters. The rest was harder to come by after halftime, but it was a start.
As he looked at the stat sheet and saw 43 minutes played, Luka said: “It’s been tough. Three games in four days. I got to go home, man.”
Briefly: The injury report improved slightly on Monday with the return of Dwight Powell from a left eye corneal abrasion and Maxi Kleber from toe soreness. However, Kyrie Irving remained out with a sprained right thumb, Derrick Jones Jr. missed with a sprained left wrist and Dante Exum was out with right knee soreness . . . Mosley said he had a good time watching the film of Dončić’s 73-point outburst Friday at Atlanta. “It was absolutely incredible,” he said. “It was special. I don’t know if there’s anything else to say. And he hasn’t even reached where he could possibly go. And that 73 points was part of it.”
X: @ESefko
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