Takeaways from Cavs’ game: Shots stopped falling, Allen was impressive

With a measuring stick road date Thursday night with the second-best team in the NBA in the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Mavericks desperately wanted to arrive in the Twin Cities with a win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in their back pocket.

But after starting fast and building a seemingly comfortable 20-point lead early in the second quarter on Wednesday, the Mavs floundered down the stretch and wound up losing to the Cavs, 113-110, at American Airlines Center.

The Mavs (18-13) put up a whopping 39 points on the scoreboard in the first quarter. But they negated that by scoring just 41 points in the entire second half, including only 20 points in the fourth quarter when they got outscored by 11 points.

So, why and how did the scoring go south in the fourth quarter?

“We got good looks,” coach Jason Kidd said. “We just didn’t make them. We got some really good looks.

“Luka (Dončić) had looks, (Seth) Curry had looks. Everybody had good looks. They just didn’t go down for us.”

The Mavs turned the ball over just 10 times Wednesday. That’s the 13th time this season they’ve committed 10 or fewer turnovers in a game, tying them with the Denver Nuggets in this category.

Dallas also had 12 steals on Wednesday, which ties the season high they collected against the Nuggets on Nov. 3. But that wasn’t enough to overcome everything else that occurred against the Cavs.

Here are the three takeaways from the three-point loss to the Cavaliers.

JARRETT ALLEN HAPPENED: Cavs center Jarrett Allen showed exactly why he was chosen as an Eastern Conference All-Star in 2022. A one-and-done from Texas before becoming the No. 22 overall pick of the 2017 NBA Draft, Allen completely dominated the boards on Wednesday. The seven-year veteran had 16 of his game-high 23 rebounds in the second half. He also grabbed nine offensive boards – two more than the Mavs had. In addition, Allen scored 24 points, distributed six assists and picked up a pair of steals.

MAVS WENT COLD: After tickling the twine and scoring 50 points during the game’s first 15 minutes, the Mavs suddenly went ice cold and tallied just 60 points over the final 33 minutes. That had to be frustrating for the Mavs, who led, 50-30, less than three minutes into the second quarter. Even more frustrating was the fact that the Cavs played without their top three scorers – Donovan Mitchell (illness), Darius Garland (fractured jaw) and Evan Mobley (left knee).

NO REBOUNDS, DIFFICULT TO WIN: The more the Cavs kept collecting rebounds, the more stress was put on the Mavs to win Wednesday’s game. Cleveland outrebounded the Mavs, 57-37, including an 18-7 edge on the offensive boards. And it wasn’t just center Jarrett Allen – with his 23 rebounds — who did all the damage on the boards for the Cavs. Guard Craig Porter Jr., who is on a two-way contract, slipped inside and grabbed 12 rebounds. And forward Dean Wade finished the game with eight rebounds.

X: @DwainPrice