Even before things started, Jason Kidd said Monday’s game against the Indiana Pacers was “going to be like a track meet.” And the Dallas
Mavericks coach wasn’t kidding.
Kidd turned into a prophet as too many times after the Mavs scored, within a few seconds the Pacers had darted down the court at a breakneck pace and countered with a basket of their own. The results netted Indiana a hard-fought 134-127 triumph over the Mavs in front of an American Airlines Center sellout crowd of 19,613.
The loss dropped the Mavs to 4-3, while the Pacers improved to 3-4.
It was yet another slow start by the Mavs as they fell behind 15-2 before they finally got cranking.
“I think that’s just kind of been our MO right now is the slow starts,” Kidd said. “We got to figure out how to get the ball moving, get everyone touching it (and) everybody moving.
“The energy has to be better. We’ve been flat here at home for whatever reasons, so we got to be better with our energy.”
The Mavs finally got energized and only trailed 36-29 after the first quarter. In fact, the game was knotted at 116 after Spencer Dinwiddie scored with 5:47 remaining.
From there, the Pacers finished on an 18-11 run to close things out. The biggest bucket for Indiana came from Tyrese Haliburton, who scored to put Indiana ahead, 126-118, after the Pacers missed a free throw and grabbed the offensive rebound.
“That’s been an issue that we’ve had – being able to rebound the ball,” Kidd said. “Tonight, we just couldn’t keep the ball in front of us.
“Give them credit. With their pace, again, we were right there. It’s a game.”
Kyrie Irving scored on a nifty yo-yo move inside the paint for the Mavs to make it 126-120 Indiana. But Bennedict Mathurin buried a three-pointer to pad the Pacers’ lead to 129-120 with 2:13 left.
The Mavs put on a brief rally after that as Luka Dončić drilled a three-pointer and P. J. Washington maneuvered inside for a bucket to slice the deficit to 130-125 with 1:03 to go. However, Haliburton calmly nailed an 18-footer to increase Indiana’s lead to 132-125 with 50.8 seconds.
Obviously, since the Mavs were playing the second leg of a back-to-back after beating Orlando on Sunday, the pace the Pacers were playing with can sometimes be overwhelming.
“I think our defense was bad tonight,” said Dončić, who collected 34 points, seven rebounds and 15 assists. “There was a lot of pace in this game, so it was hard for a back-to-back.”
It also was hard for the Mavs because they were without center Dereck Lively II, who suffered a right shoulder sprain during pre-game warmups. It’s not known if 
Lively will be able to play in Wednesday’s home game against the Chicago Bulls.
“I don’t know when he got hurt,” Kidd said. “He got scratched right before our (pre-game) meeting.
“I’ll have pictures tomorrow on the shoulder and see what the deal is.”
Myles Turner, a 2014 graduate of Euless Trinity High School, returned home and gave the Mavs all sorts of fits. Turner finished with 30 points and 11 rebounds, and was 10-of-17 from the field.
“I think Turner killed us there,” Dončić said. “He played great. It looked like we couldn’t stop him. We should have done a better job.
“We know he wants to shoot. He’s home. He’s from here, so we know he wants to put on a show, and we just could have done a better job with that.”
Consecutive triples by Turner netted the Pacers an 85-80 lead late in the third quarter.
“We gave up a couple of threes to Turner, and it’s only a two-possession game,” Kidd said. “And at that point they took control of the game on our mental
mistakes, and we just got to be better as a group.
“We’re getting misses. We just got to come up with the rebound.”
Marshall did his part in helping the Mavs remain within striking distance of the Pacers. He was 8-of-9 from the field and finished with a season-high 20 points, five rebounds and six assists.
“I was just getting more and more comfortable,” said Marshall, who played a season-high 34 minutes. “Guys put me in the right position to be at my best. I was playing with energy.”
It just wasn’t enough as the Pacers shot a whopping 56.3 percent from the field and 40.6 percent from three-point territory, and also outscored the Mavs in the paint, 76-58.
The Mavs shot 51.7 percent from the field and 41.7 percent from downtown. But they lost the rebound battle, 46-38, and it was clear that they missed Lively’s 
presence on both ends of the floor.
“I think we’re just still building,” Marshall said. “(We’re) a new team a little bit.
“I think we’re kind of just getting used to each other’s tendencies. It just comes with more reps and more games.”
Irving wound up with 27 points and five rebounds, Dinwiddie tallied 14 points on 6-of-8 shots. Klay Thompson also began to heat up and had the Pacers back on their heels when he buried 4-of-8 three-pointers while finishing with 16 points.
“His shooting is there,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said of Thompson. “It’s always been there, and it will always be there. He’s just that great at what he does. Championship experience.
“They got three guys who I would think will be in the Hall of Fame with Luka, Kyrie and Klay. They’ve got major firepower, and Jason’s doing a great job with this team.”
But on Monday, they simply couldn’t keep pace with the Pacers.
“No matter what game – back-to-back, regular game – those guys play so fast,” Marshall said. “You really got to be locked in at all times no matter what. It just wasn’t a good night.”
X: @DwainPrice
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