Kidd: Mavs defense gave Atlanta ‘shootout’ in Hawks 130-122 win

A tear that scratched the skies meant more tears for the Mavericks on Wednesday night.

Atlanta’s Trey Young rode up to the basket and raised the bobber high over the arms of Christian Wood, who settled into the basket with 41.1 seconds left to lead the Hawks to a 130–122 win over the Mavericks at the American Airlines Center.

The return home and the return of two of their top defensemen failed to reverse a worrying trend in the Mavericks’ defense, which again failed them badly as the Hawks failed to be stopped the entire length of the journey.

As the Hawks went up 121–120, they received a three-pointer from Dejonté Murray before Spencer Dinwiddie hit a three-pointer. Young’s drive followed. Murray finished with 30 points, as did Luka Doncic.

The Mavericks weren’t completely dead. Doncic missed a three-pointer, but Dorian Finney-Smith, who returned after missing 14 games with a groin injury, followed up with a one-handed jam.

But with a showing of 24.5 seconds, Young made a couple of free throws.

We’ve already seen the Mavericks come back in the final seconds, but it wasn’t supposed to happen this time.

In his quick post-game discussion, coach Jason Kidd couldn’t have been more direct about the problems facing the Mavericks.

“If it’s about these staff, you have to keep asking or demanding that these guys play defense,” Kidd said. “This is not just an offensive end. Tonight, give up 130, the team scored 57 percent. This is a shootout.

“In this league, if you do that, whether you have Luka or Kareem or LeBron, you will lose. It doesn’t matter how many points you score. you will always be short. So until we put in more effort to play defense and figure out what we have to do, then we’re going to hit 120 but we’re going to give up 130 or 140. One night we might give up 150. But we’ll all be good, because we scored, so it won’t look too bad.”

The Mavericks finished the trip 1-4, with Portland scoring 276 points in the last two games of that trip.

This game wasn’t that bad. But after losing 40 points in the first quarter, the tone was set. The Mavericks lost 65 points in each half.

The game, which was tight throughout, left the Mavericks in need of a late draw. Atlanta took a 121–113 lead with less than four minutes left.

But the Mavericks brought him back 121–120 before the Hawks made a deal.

Almost the entire game required eye strain to understand how the defense plays.

“You have to play defense,” Kidd said. “And right now we’re not playing defense.”

Not that the game wasn’t physical. Players hit the deck from the left and right, including Doncic, who grabbed his lower left leg, left wrist/arm/elbow, and other parts of the body as the game progressed. Christian Wood had his hand hacked and taped over to end the game.

And yet, they continued to work. Wood finished with 22 points and Dinwiddie scored 20. But the Mavericks hesitated all night.

It was Josh Green and Finney-Smith’s first game and both had good outbursts.

“I think Dow and Josh did a really good job in their first games,” Kidd said.

It was a battle between two teams that rebuilt a few years ago and found success, perhaps faster than they expected.

Two seasons ago, the Hawks were in the Eastern Conference Finals. Last year, the Mavericks were in the West Finals.

That’s one time each for Luka Doncic and Trae Young deep into the playoffs.

But in the season following the Atlanta run, they plummeted. And so far, the Mavericks have not shown such a strong game as they did last year after the All-Star break.

There are many more seasons, of course. But Hawks coach Nate McMillan said it’s not certain that any franchise will be successful year after year.

“You always want to be better (during the season) than you were before, but when you have that kind of success, sometimes it’s difficult,” McMillan said. “To make it to the Eastern Conference Finals or win a championship, a lot of things have to go right.

“I think one of the most important things is health. Sometimes it can creep in next season and you’re not as healthy as you used to be. This is another year. Many factors influence this.”

As both of these commands can confirm. Neither is having a great season, although both teams are firmly in the postseason picture.

However, defense on both sides left a lot to be desired on Wednesday.

Twitter: @ESefko

Content Source

Dallas Press News – Latest News:
Dallas Local News || Fort Worth Local News | Texas State News || Crime and Safety News || National news || Business News || Health News

texasstandard.news contributed to this report.

Related Articles

Back to top button