CLEVELAND – When Sir Isaac Newton published his three laws of motion in 1687, he never imagined that 337 years later he would apply the third of those laws to NBA teams.
For every action in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction.
So how do we explain the Mavericks' recent conundrums: the long-awaited rise of Josh Green and the fall of seemingly even Tim Hardaway Jr.?
Over the last eight games, Green is averaging 12.1 points on 58.3 percent shooting, including 16-of-31 (51.6 percent) from 3-point range. During that same span, Hardaway averaged 9.9 points on 33.7 percent shooting, including 17-of-54 (31.5 percent) from 3-point range.
Fortunately for the Mavericks (33-24), their bottom line remained unaffected until Sunday's 22-point loss to Indiana, ending Dallas' winning streak at seven and ending this four-game road trip. It opened on a bitter note.
“Timmy looked good,” coach Jason Kidd said. “We may have to work on improving his looks, but his looks haven't gone down that far lately. We have to get him moving.”
Dallas faces Cleveland on Tuesday night with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference (37-19), having won 19 of its past 23 games but losing three of its past five. Despite the loss, things don't get any easier.
The last time these teams met in Dallas on Dec. 27, the Cavaliers, who were missing their top three scorers in Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland and Evan Mobley, rallied from a 20-point deficit to dominate the Mavericks.
Perhaps the Mavericks will be helped by the fact that it's Slovenian Heritage Night and that a sizable portion of the Cleveland area's Slovenian population comes to Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse every year to cheer on Luka Doncic. It will be done.
Cleveland is also the city where Kyrie Irving began his NBA career and found success with his game-winning 3-pointer in Game 7 against Golden State in the 2016 Finals.
Primarily, the Mavericks need to regain some defensive efficiency after allowing opponents just 104.5 points per 100 possessions during their winning streak. And he needs to get his ball movement back after dishing out a season-low 15 assists against the Pacers, 10.4 below his season average.
“We had some bad shots that took away some of our energy, but we'll learn from it and get better,” Kidd said.
Despite his recent winning streak, and the fact that he scored 17.1 points, his highest in six seasons as a Maverick player, Hardaway has been the target of fan frustration on social media.
Before that eight-game slump, he was averaging 18.3 points and shooting 36.8 percent from 3-point range, and excelled in the sixth-man role Kidd asked him to play. In doing so, he emerged as a candidate for Sixth Man of the Year.
And with Irving missing 22 games with various injuries, Hardaway was coveted as a reliable second scoring option behind Doncic on many nights.
Irving's return coincided with the start of Dallas' winning streak, and the acquisitions of P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford three games later appeared to disrupt the Mavericks' scoring rankings.
After the loss to the Pacers, I asked Kidd if it was important to have an established third scorer behind elite scorers Doncic and Irving.
“No, I think it's better to have four or five guys who can go,” Kidd said. “PJ looked great tonight. I thought Josh looked good.”
In other words, Kidd and the coaching staff will be looking for a hot hand, or multiple hot hands, to provide the roughly 60 points other than Doncic/Irving that the Mavericks need each game.
That formula worked well until Sunday, with Green becoming the Mavericks' closest thing to a No. 3 scorer and arguably their most efficient player. Most of Washington's value continues to be on the defensive end, where he struggles shooting 37 percent, including 19 percent from 3-point range (4-of-21).
In the bigger picture, the emergence of the 23-year-old Green is a positive development for the franchise. But for the Mavericks to make a meaningful playoff run this season, the 31-year-old Hardaway needs to regain his shooting touch.
Looking at the past eight games, there's no reason why those two facts contradict each other. Green credited his career-high 3-point shooting percentage of 42.3 percent to his personnel, coaching and teammates.
“I shoot as much as I can. I try to stay in the same shape. I'm learning from my mistakes,” he said. “When you make a mistake, most of the time it's a missed shot. Being able to see it.
“Just staying confident. And at the end of the day, the best playmakers in the league were able to find me in Luka and Kyrie, so that definitely helped.”
Similar intangibles exist with Hardaway, who until recently was having his best season as a Maverick.
Got a hot Green and a hot Hardaway and improved defense? Here's the formula for a strong stretch run.
Read more Mavericks coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
