The Dallas Mavericks were about to finish their latest skid Tuesday night when they hosted the Brooklyn Nets. Stars Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis both returned to the line-up for the nationally televised game. Dallas took the lead and stayed behind until the fourth quarter when the Mavericks collapsed for the third straight year as the Nets took the 102-99 win.
Luka gave his team a 17-point lead before Brooklyn made a furious comeback. Dallas had no answers for Kevin Durant and James Harden in the final third as the Nets outperformed the Mavs by 14. They did it on both ends when the Mavericks only hit 13 in the last 12 minutes.
Doncic put on a show on Tuesday night. He missed the team’s previous game with ankle pain but the 22-year-old looked healthy as he scored 28 points, nine assists and six rebounds in 36 minutes. The Mavericks were healthy, but their roster problems persisted. Here’s a closer look at what led to the loss to the Nets on December 7th.
Dallas Mavericks slipped a loss to the Brooklyn Nets
There’s no shame in losing to the Nets. Brooklyn is one of the best teams in the NBA, employing two of the top ten basketball players. Dallas’ problems, however, were fully seen.
The Mavericks struggle to hit Springer. They got a lot of open looks on Tuesday evening, but only met nine of the 46 3-point attempts. Dallas must find their shootout quickly to get back on track.
The team’s lack of ball handling and playmaking also became apparent. The Nets held Dallas on five points in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter. Head coach Jason Kidd brought Luka Doncic back 9:32 minutes behind the competition after Brooklyn opened the period with a ten-on-two run.
No matter how spectacular Luka Doncic is, the Dallas Mavericks need to fix the holes in their squad if they want to go into a deep playoff run. There’s no time to rest as the Mavs travel to Memphis to face the Grizzlies on Wednesday night. Tune in to see if Dallas gets back on track.
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