Mavs know lack of ball movement hampered them against Pacers

INDIANAPOLIS – That season-high seven-game winning streak the Dallas Mavericks recently stitched together is no more. It

tumbled by the wayside thanks to Sunday’s 133-111 road loss at the hands of the Indiana Pacers.

But there were indeed some lessons learned in what became the first loss since guard Kyrie Irving returned on Feb. 5 after missing six games due to a sprained right thumb.

“We always try to learn something in wins and losses,” Irving said. “But when we have road games like this where we don’t play as well as we would like, or we don’t have the energy particularly required to withstand a few runs from away teams (it’s not good).

“(Sunday), we couldn’t withstand Indiana’s run after they were up by four and then all of a sudden they started creating that separation, which a lot of good teams in our league do. I give credit to them while also just being aware that we’re still a young group, we’re still a new developing group.”

The Mavs were chasing the Pacers most of the night and got within 104-100 of Indiana with 8:53 remaining in the game after Irving ran off nine consecutive points. But that was the end of the good tidings for the Mavs, because the Pacers immediately went on a 20-4 tear and padded their lead to 124-104 with 4:14 left.

“We were down by four at that point and they came out of a timeout and they hit us in the mouth again,” Irving said. “And they hit a few threes from a few guys that we probably needed to run off the line, especially at home.

“They play extremely well at home. You look at their record and I think the facts speak for themselves.”

Irving acknowledged that the seven-game winning streak put the Mavs in the media spotlight and had folks who know basketball mentioning them as a serious contender to reach the NBA Finals. All of that extra attention, Irving mentioned, comes with consequences.

“Yes, it’s good to go on a win streak and have that success, but it doesn’t mean (anything) in the regular season until we get later down the line and we’re aware of what our seeding is,” Irving said. “That’s a different mindset and mentality, but right now it’s just about incremental progression and taking it game by game.

“It’s not any time to hold our head. But we’re well aware of the things we’ve got to work on and consistently to be a good team in this league.”

Here are the three takeaways from the Mavs’ 22-point loss to the Pacers.

PACERS OPERATING AT A BREAKNECK PACE: The Indiana Pacers showed how and why they’re the No. 1 team in the NBA in pace. The Pacers ran the ball almost at every opportunity, and the Mavs couldn’t keep pace. Keeping the ball on a swivel, Indiana found itself with a lot of wide-open shots and wound up collecting an astonishing 38 assists.

NOT ENOUGH BALL MOVEMENT: Mavs coach Jason Kidd said his team’s lack of ball movement was critical in the team’s season-low 15 assists. Also, the Mavs did themselves no favors by committing too many live ball turnovers which turned into easy opportunity baskets for Indiana. In all, the Mavs turned the ball over 15 times. Mavs guard Kyrie Irving said: “I think at times they got out in transition, they capitalized off our turnovers and took full advantage of our mistakes.”

SEVEN PACERS SCORED AT LEAST 12 POINTS: Indiana had seven players score at least 12 points. The leader of that group was Euless Trinity High School alumni Myles Turner, who finished with 33 points, while All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton was held to 17 points. “Tyrese wasn’t really one of the main scorers, but he did a good job of running the offense and those guys from the bench came in and were playing with a good rhythm,” Mavs guard Kyrie Irving said. “Bennedict Mathurin hit some good hesitation threes, so the little things really beat us.”

X: @DwainPrice