The Mavericks were 1-3 over the past two weeks and remain firmly in 12th place in the West. They lost to Phoenix (120-111), the Lakers (124-104), and Minnesota (122-111), and beat Indiana (134-130). Naji Marshall led the team in scoring with 20.5 points per game. Cooper Flagg has missed the last three games with a foot contusion, while Kyrie Irving (knee) was ruled out for the year. Khris Middleton made his Mavericks debut against Phoenix.
Grade: B-
The Mavericks three losses in the last two weeks were by a combined 40 points. In those games, they were dead even with their opponents in the second through the fourth quarter. This leaves a 40-point discrepancy in those first quarters, which our very own Kirk Henderson described as a “masterclass in tanking”:
And it is. Throwing the first quarters of games, intentionally or not, actually makes it so that Dallas can have their cake and eat it too. We get three competitive quarters of basketball and a loss that moves them closer to the top five in the draft. A true win-win!
Jason Kidd still has the team playing hard every night. There will be wins in the next month and a half against superior opponents that come simply from them overlooking this team. It is hard to get up for games without Cooper Flagg, but a lot of the guys playing will be here next season. And knowing they will not lie down inspires hope that next season will not be another rebuild year, but one where the Mavericks try to get back to the playoffs. Dallas has Brooklyn, Sacramento, Memphis, and Oklahoma City on the slate this upcoming week. I would not be surprised if the Mavericks won two of those games.
Straight A’s: Naji Marshall
Marshall has earned A’s all year. He once again averaged over 20 points for a four-game stretch and shot over 50 percent from the field (57.1). He is efficient in a 2007 type of way, and while the Mavericks have no identity, he provides a steady hand and enjoyable basketball to watch. He is shooting a mind-boggling 68.9 percent at the rim this season, and makes floaters in the paint with an ease that I have never seen. He has quickly become one of my favorite Mavericks in recent memory.
Currently Failing: Tyus Jones
As of right now, the Mavericks starting point guard spot next year is still wide open. I am sure Dallas targeted Jones at the trade deadline to vet him and see if there was anything there going forward. Unfortunately for Jones, he has not had a great audition thus far, shooting just 18.2 percent from three in 18 minutes a game. At 6’0”, he has a lot of the same issues that Ryan Nembhard has, except it seems like defenses pick on him even more than Nembhard. Jones has always been a steady hand on offense, averaging less than one (0.8) turnover per game in his career. But if he is not shooting the ball well, it’s hard to see how he fits next to Cooper Flagg going forward.
Extra Credit: Khris Middleton
The Mavericks are going to be doing a lot of losing until the end of the season. Whether that is through the injury report or the rotations, Dallas’ goal is to jockey for a better draft pick. Something that often gets overlooked in a so-called “tank” is the balance between losing and accidentally establishing a losing culture. It truly is a tightrope, and one that a lot of organizations cannot walk without falling. Khris Middleton, like Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson, has won a championship. He has played winning basketball nearly his entire career and is another guy who can level the ship if the water seeps through the cracks. Dallas had lost 10 in a row entering Sunday’s contest in Indiana. And, like someone messaged one of my group chats, “I don’t think it’s good for anyone to lose 11 straight games”. Middleton’s 25 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists made sure they didn’t. His presence will benefit the Mavericks down the stretch more than it will hurt, even if he wins them a few more games than the organization would like. Ultimately, the draft will work out the way it was meant to, and establishing a winning culture now, before they start winning games, will be key to the quick turnaround they hope to have around Cooper Flagg.