The Dallas Mavericks suffered their second consecutive bankruptcy on Kyrie Irving’s home debut. At 121:124, the holey defense is a big concern before Irving leads the comeback with a late explosion of points – but without success.
Dallas Mavericks (31-28) – Minnesota Timberwolves (31-29) 121:124 (BOXSCORE)
For long stretches of the game, Irving acted off the ball and relatively unobtrusively. With the fourth quarter, however, the Kyrie period began. The 30-year-old, who leads the league in scoring in the final section, scored 26 of his 36 points (15/23 FG, 6 assists) in this very round. He led the Mavs’ comeback from a 26-point deficit, but neither he nor Luka Doncic managed to throw a shot for a potential equalizer in the final possession.
The Slovenian scored 33 points and collected an additional 12 rebounds and 6 assists. Christian Wood contributed 24 points from the bench, but otherwise no Mav scored in double digits. But Dallas had the biggest problems defensively. The hosts mightn’t stop Minnesota in the zone, the Wolves kept getting easy shots on the ring (23/26 FG in the restricted area), hit a total of 58 percent from the field and pulled away early.
Anthony Edwards led his colors with 32 points, Rudy Gobert raged with 21 points (9/9 FG, 3/5 FT) and 14 rebounds in the zone. Jaden McDaniels put up 19 points but struggled from the line (3/7 FT). Mike Conley had 12 points and 9 assists, but also failed to clear things up in the final minute from the free-throw line.
The Mavs fans gave Irving an enthusiastic welcome on his home debut, the point guard started once more alongside Doncic. Reggie Bullock replaced Tim Hardaway Jr. in the starting five, the 30-year-old had to sit out with a thigh problem. Irving’s first shot at American Airlines Center was a jump off the free-throw line, but otherwise the ball was in Doncic’s hands a lot (10 in the first quarter).
Defensively Dallas had enormous problems keeping the guests away from the basket. 24 of Wolves’ first 30 points all came from within the zone – including 10-0 Second Chance Points following 4 offensive rebounds – with the rest from the free-throw line. Accordingly, Minnesota had a shot rate of almost 60 percent and a 33:23 lead following the first section.
Late Irving blast: Mavs lose despite chasing
Two threes from Theo Pinson started the second quarter, then Wood took over the scoring duties. After his 11 Mavs points in a row, Dallas was back (40:41), but the Wolves had restored the old gap at least as quickly thanks to easy shots in the restricted area. Now Conley and Edwards were even successful from a distance, which was previously not a recipe for success for the guests (4/17 three-pointers in the first half). The lead grew to 14 points, and a Mavs zone defense hardly helped. Thanks to a Wood buzzerbeater, the score was 65:54.
The most positive event to date from the point of view of the hosts was the yes word of a couple who got married on the court during the half-time break. But sporty, even following the change of sides, there was initially no trend reversal. The defense, especially under the basket, was still non-existent, and there wasn’t much to see from Irving either. Dallas fell behind with 26 points, Doncic’s scoring (13 in the third quarter) “only” ensured an intermediate score of 82:100 from Mavs’ point of view following three rounds.
Kyrie now woke up for the start of the final period, his triple set at -10 a few minutes into the fourth quarter. Thanks to the Irving blast (and an airball from Gobert from the free throw line), the Mavs fans were back, too. 21 of the first 26 Mavs points in the fourth quarter went to the point guard, three minutes before the end Doncic sank a stepback three, then even Frank Ntilikina followed up with a triple to 116:120.
Although Edwards and McDaniels missed decent chances for Minnesota, the latter made up for it with a steal once morest Doncic and at least hit 1 of his 2 free throws. But: Downtown’s Irving made it -2 with 30 seconds left, but Dallas now had to foul. Veteran Mike Conley showed nerves, he missed a free throw.
With 15 seconds left on the clock, Dallas had one last chance to equalize – at least in theory. In practice, however, neither Irving nor Doncic got once morest the very active defense of the Wolves no more shots, following several pump fakes by the Mavs stars, it was always the turn of the next defender. The game ended in a turnover for Dallas, with the season series going to Minnesota.
