DETROIT – The kneejerk reaction is to bid adieu to January and, from a Mavericks’ perspective, say: goodbye and good riddance.
They played 16 games in the month and went 6-10. They went oh-for-Luka as Dončić missed the entire month with a left calf strain. Dereck Lively II missed the last half of the month with a stress fracture in his ankle.
Maxi Kleber was lost to a foot fracture. Dwight Powell has been out. Dante Exum finally returned, making his season debut in the final game of January. But Naji Marshall, Klay Thompson and Jaden Hardy all missed substantial time.
So it was a bad month, right?
That may be true, but in the big picture, allow Kyrie Irving to explain why it wasn’t as bad as the numbers and injuries might suggest.
“You got some guys disappointed in terms of the way the season is going,” Irving said after the Mavericks closed out January with a 117-102 loss at Detroit on Friday. “But all in all, I feel like we’re in a good place. We still have a winning record. We’re still putting our best foot forward in preparing for games.
“It’s no time to look the other way and scream for help. What we have in this locker room is who’s going to figure it out. And hopefully in the next few weeks we get some guys healthy and guys roles are a little more cemented and we can have some consistency in our lineups.”
Irving is right. The Mavericks are 26-23 and have played more than half their games (27) without “It was a lot of basketball. But now we turn the page and hopefully February will be good to us.
. So there are two ways to look at it.
Either the Mavericks have done a respectable job of holding the fort down and when their superstar returns, they figure to be a monster after the All-Star break, the kind of team that could be primed to make big noise in the playoffs.
Or.
It’s just one of those seasons where there’s never any traction because of injuries and you take solace in the fact that the Mavericks have made deep playoff runs in half of Jason Kidd’s four seasons as coach.
Either way, the Mavericks are expecting better times ahead.
“It’s been frustrating, the human element of it,” Irving said. “But you can’t whine. It’s not going to do any good. It has been a difficult stretch. We haven’t really practiced. We haven’t had enough bodies.”
The Mavericks have not made it known when Dončić will return, although the smart money is that he will return to the court before the All-Star break.
But even if he doesn’t, this Mavericks’ season won’t have a true narrative until he does.
Until then, the Mavericks can lick their wounds from an ugly January.
“It was a lot of basketball,” Kidd said. “But now we turn the page and hopefully February will be good to us.”
Here’s a few other takeaways from the loss at Detroit:
Pushed around: The Mavericks, by their own admission, were not physical enough against the Pistons. Detroit didn’t dominate in the rebounding department, but they did when it comes to what they did with their offensive rebounds. They turned 18 of those (nine in the fourth quarter) into 27 second-chance points. The Mavericks had just 15 second-chance points on 16 offensive rebounds. “They came out with a physicality first, hit us first and got us out of some of our actions that we’ve been normally running,” Irving said. “A lot of grabbing, a lot of holding. A pure NBA game. We just didn’t respond the way we needed to.”
A Cunning(ham) performance: Cade Cunningham dropped in 40 points against the Mavericks and he took a page out of Luka’s playbook in doing so. The Mavericks’ praised the 6-6 guard for his ability to go at his own speed and use his size to his advantage, much like Dončić. “He plays at his own pace,” Irving said. “You can tell he has a confidence about him. You can tell he’s worked on his craft. I’m really happy for him.” P.J. Washington, like Cunningham, grew up in the Dallas area and has known the Arlington-born Piston for years. “He’s a wonderful talent,” 
Washington said. “I seen him growing up and I’m excited and proud of him to be where he is now. Just a great young player. Growing up I used to see him a lot.” What makes him so tough is what made him a first-time All-Star this season. “His size, his ability to pass the ball, shoot,” Washington said. “He has the total package and he just had it going tonight. I was happy to see him. Can’t wait for him to get his feet under him. I’m glad he’s here.”
Exum returns: The Mavericks’ corps of guards is growing as Dante Exum made his season debut after being sidelined by wrist surgery in training camp. He was limited to 14 minutes and had three points, two rebounds and an assist. Now it will be up to the coaches to get him into the flow and try to find ways to play numerous guards: Irving, Spencer Dinwiddie, Exum, Quentin Grimes, Jaden Hardy and, eventually, Luka. “Those are all different point guards,” Kidd said. “We’ve asked Spencer to be a playmaker and maybe shut down his engines as a scorer. So we want to get him back to scoring. When 77 comes back, somebody definitely has to sit.” Against the Pistons, it was Grimes that drew the short straw, playing only 10 minutes against the team for whom he played half of last season.
X: @ESefko
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