The Dallas Mavericks lost a disappointing home game 120-116 to the undermanned Philadelphia 76ers in Dallas on Sunday.
Without reigning MVP Joel Embiid, the 76ers were somewhat aimless, putting out around .500 and falling further down the Eastern Conference standings. After a difficult four-game road trip, the Mavericks returned home with a chance to win against an inferior opponent, and instead laid one of their biggest eggs of the season.
It started well, with Dallas beating Philadelphia and taking an 11-0 lead in the opening minutes of the game. From then on, it looked like the Mavericks were going to have the upper hand, but the 76ers regained control with an 11-2 run, and from that moment on, the Mavericks were in trouble.
While the Mavericks' offense looked lackluster, Tyrese Maxey got Philadelphia off to a strong start with 19 points in the first half. Luka Doncic scored two points on 1-of-6 shooting in the first quarter, but it took some hard shooting in the second quarter to cut Philadelphia's lead to five points at halftime, 56-51. It was necessary.
The third quarter may have been one of the worst for Dallas considering the stakes of the game and the opponent. The 76ers outscored the Mavericks 34-25 and built a double-digit lead, but they did it without Maxey scoring. Tobias Harris and Kelly Oubre did some damage off the dribble and did a good job of scoring against the Mavericks' smaller wing players. That trend continued into the fourth quarter, as Philadelphia built an 18-point lead early in the final quarter.
The game seemed over, but this being the modern NBA, it technically wasn't over. Dallas finally decided to start playing with some force, bringing the 76ers full court and running hard on offense. Dallas cut the lead to five points, 110-105, with less than a minute left, but Harris' corner three ended up being a no-go. Kyrie Irving made a desperate three in the final seconds and the game looked close on the scoreboard, but the Mavericks never held the ball in the final quarter with a chance to tie or take the lead. Dallas lost a game they never should have.
Here's what we noticed.
This was a coaching failure.
Neither myself nor this site have said much about Mavericks coach Jason Kidd's performance. Because it feels like banging your head against a brick wall. His work has never been questioned and criticism of the coach seems to be out there. Some fans and Mavericks media have said the worst.
There's no getting around it these days—Kid was terrible. The Mavericks started the game by playing drop coverage on the pick-and-roll against 76ers All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey (meaning the big man guarding the pick-and-roll dropped into the paint and was on the perimeter). The last time the Mavericks and 76ers met before the All-Star break, the Mavericks held the 76ers to 102 points on 6-of-16 shooting from Blitz, while Maxey held him to 15 points. Despite this, Maxey traps him in the pick-and-roll, doubles him, and gives the ball away, allowing the rest of the Sixers to beat them.
The strategy for the February 5th match made a lot of sense. Without Embiid, the Sixers don't have a ton of offensive creators, so why let Maxey win? Harris is a decent enough scorer and the addition of Buddy Hield and the return of Nicolas Batum make a difference, but still, Philadelphia has a lot of players who can burn you out with double teams most of the time. there is no.
So instead of going back to that strategy, the Mavericks let their big shots fall to the wall near the rim, and Maxey instead used them as a free runway into the paint, hitting a variety of pull-ups, teardrops, floaters, and lays. I scored on the up. Maxey scored 19 points in the first half. That was bad.
The Mavericks then changed up in the second half, using a combination of traps and switches against Maxey. Amazingly, Maxey only scored five points in the second half, and the Mavericks were able to close the lead in the fourth quarter. Of course, it wasn't perfect. Dallas was single-handed by Harris and Oubre on a weakside kickout, but it was better than what they did in the first half. The Sixers shot less than 50 percent from the field and 29.7 percent from three overall, but the Mavericks could storm off to an early 11-0 run if they continue to do what they did well last time. It might have been.
Instead, Kidd and the coaching staff ran coverages that were not only ineffective against a player like Maxey, but typically ineffective against most quality teams in the NBA. Drop coverage is becoming a dinosaur modus operandi in the modern NBA, and it looked especially scary when backup center Daniel Gafford ran it. A baffling decision by the Mavericks' coaching staff.
Mavericks offense is too top heavy
Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving both had strong performances — Doncic had 38 points on 14-of-27 shooting and Irving had 28 points on 10-of-20 shooting — but the Mavericks' The offense once again fell off a cliff every time another player appeared. Those two players shot the ball.
The Mavericks, without Doncic or Irving, were an abysmal 7-of-32 from three (21.9 percent). It contains Derrick Jones Jr. went wild 5/5 in three days. Jones has 23 points in his past eight games, averaging five points per game in February and scoring 21 points against Philadelphia. Even with those random outbursts, the Mavericks offense was rudderless for most of the game. The Mavericks would have been even worse if Jones hadn't had a fluke-filled night.
PJ Washington scored 13 points on 3-of-10 shooting. Tim Hardaway Jr. scored two points on 1-of-8 shooting. Maxi Kleber scored on two free throws, but only missed two of them. The team is starting to let Irving and Doncic play more one-on-one games, holding up against the Mavericks' role players in single coverage and more consistent closeouts. Because why give such limited players easy open threes from double teams? Does that usually prove to be the only way you can score? It feels like the team is intentionally holding up to the big scoring power of Doncic and Irving without fear of allowing the supporting cast to make up the difference against set defenses.
This is where guys like Washington and Hardaway should be in, but it's been a huge struggle for both of them, especially Hardaway. The Mavericks will have to adapt to the way the team plays defense, as they don't have many options to rely on on the bench other than Jaden Hardy. In this case, it helps to have a coaching staff that creates some plays. This gets even more confusing when you look at how well the Mavericks played after the timeout. Teams are happy to see Doncic and Irving hold the ball and attack. Teams need some excitement outside of when defenders are hitting blitzes and doubles. Otherwise, the Mavericks offense will continue to look weird.
