In the span of two alarming weeks, the Mavericks went from riding the crest of a seven-game winning streak to circling the proverbial horse.
Losing five of their last six games has dropped them from sixth place in the West — where they looked on track for a top-five finish — to eighth place. With only 20 games remaining in the rapidly deteriorating season, it is as if a state of emergency has been declared.
Ideally, Dallas' opponent on Thursday night at American Airlines Center will be Miami (35-26), a team that has won seven of its past eight games and 11 of its last 14. I don't think I can say that. However, Mavericks coach Jason Kidd believes the matchup has a chance. Miami and their opponents are coming.
“It's nice to be tested in the sense of, 'Are we going to let go of the rope?'” Or are we going to keep working? ” Kidd said after Tuesday's 17-point loss at home to Indiana.
“Everyone is coming to work. Everyone has a positive mindset, energy. Everyone is trying to do the right thing right now.”
After watching the Mavericks lose their past five games by an average of 14.6 points, fans have become far less confident that coach and team are on the same wavelength, and have expressed displeasure with the growing criticism of Kidd on social media. ing.
In the 2021-22 season, Kidd's first year in charge, he led the Mavericks to a 52-30 regular season and an incredible run to the Western Conference Finals. That season, they went 20-7 after the blockbuster trade of Kristaps Porzingis.
However, in the two seasons since then, Dallas has gone 72-72. Since acquiring Kyrie Irving last February, Dallas is 25-26 in games Irving and Luka Doncic have played together.
The early returns of P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford, acquired on February 8 this season, have been promising, with Dallas winning the pair's first four games, including a 36-point blowout of Oklahoma City and a 10-point win over Phoenix. .
So what's the cause of the ensuing free fall, especially on defense? Kidd insists Dallas has enough talent to be a much better defensive team than the No. 30 ranking after the All-Star hiatus .
“These are things we’ve been working on,” he said. “You have to be able to see it in real time. These are things that we will continue to work on.”
Thursday night presents a formidable challenge, but the sight of Miami at American Airlines Center also represents hope that Dallas has plenty of time to turn this season around.
Before their recent strong play, Miami had lost seven straight games. Four of those losses occurred after the Heat made a big trade on Jan. 23 that sent Kyle Lowry and a protected 2027 first-round pick to Charlotte in exchange for guard Terry Rozier.
Sound familiar? Charlotte is the team Dallas sent Grant Williams, Seth Curry and a 2027 first-round pick from Washington, a 6-7 forward.
When NBA teams make big trades midseason, they often take two or more steps back before new players and the rest of the roster take hold.
That was the case with Miami when they lost to Memphis by nine points in their first four games against Rozier. Arrive in Boston by 33:00. 16 points behind the Knicks. And by 1:00 PM, I was on my way to Phoenix.
What made the Mavericks' precipitous decline so alarming was the fact that Kidd and veterans Kyrie Irving and Markieff Morris approached the team after Tuesday's loss, even though the result could be the first four games against Washington and Gafford. shows how dramatically different they are.
Luka Doncic has had four consecutive 30-point triple-doubles, but Dallas has lost three of them. In fact, the Mavericks have lost six of eight games since Jan. 17, when Doncic recorded a triple-double.
Until then, Dallas had won 13 of Doncic's last 14 games with a triple-double, including a 5-1 start this season. In other words, Doncic's dominance was on par with the Mavericks' success.
“Obviously I'm surprised,” Doncic said of Dallas' sudden tailspin. “We have to do something. Certainly, we have to do better.”
Before Tuesday's loss, Kidd bristled when asked about possible changes to the starting lineup. But after the loss, he talked about potentially shortening the 10-man rotation and making other changes.
“We can look at different rotations,” he said. “We can look at different starting lineups. … We have options and we'll look at them.”
Kidd and his staff are looking for ways to compensate for Doncic and Irving being below-average defenders, but starting Dante Exum or Maxi Kleber is not a realistic possibility. That's because both players are returning from long injury absences, in part due to the strain on each minute.
The most logical change in the starting lineup would be from Gafford to Derek Lively II, who started 42 of the 44 games he played in his rookie season.
Gafford had a 16-point, 10-rebound performance against Indiana, coming on after Lively (0 points, 1 rebound in 15 minutes) again struggled to contain Bedford native Myles Turner at center for the Pacers. did.
Turner, who scored a season-high 33 points against Dallas nine days ago, scored 11 of Indiana's first 17 points on Tuesday. Gafford then came on, followed by Kleber. Turner scored nine points the rest of the night.
After using his “Will you let go the rope?” metaphor, Kidd points out that while on-court performance has declined, some young players are firmly grasping the ropes. I was asked if I was sure.
“No, there's confidence. There's great character in that locker room,” Kidd said.
But he added: “When you watch him let go of the ropes, there's a 20-year-old player starting at center that we've never seen before. …And then there's the rookie wall. He's a young guy seeing the NBA for the first time. It's going to have its ups and downs. Sho.
“But that's why it's called a team. That's why Gafford came to pick him up tonight. … Lively had a tough rookie season and will continue to get better, but he's tired. Maybe. He's never played this many games or minutes. So I don't even know if he knows what it means to let go of the rope.”
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