The Dallas Mavericks fell to the Milwaukee Bucks 137-107 Wednesday night in Milwaukee. Tonight’s matchup at the Fiserv Forum was Dallas’ first since it was announced that star Kyrie Irving has a torn ACL and will miss the remainder of the year.
The Mavericks were severely shorthanded tonight, as Irving (ACL tear), Kai Jones (quad strain), Dante Exum (foot contusion), Jaden Hardy (ankle sprain), PJ Washington (ankle sprain), Daniel Gafford (MCL sprain), Anthony Davis (adductor strain), Caleb Martin (hip strain), and Dereck Lively (ankle stress fracture) were all out. This means they had eight available players, which is the minimum requirement to compete in a contest. Pat Connaughton, Gary Trent Jr., and Bobby Portis were out for the Bucks tonight.
Klay Thompson finished with 28 points on six three-pointers for Dallas. Naji Marshall contributed 22 points. Damian Lillard led the Bucks with 34 points, and Giannis Antetokounmpo added 32 points and 15 rebounds.
The Mavericks played with dignity in the first quarter, given the unfortunate circumstances. Dallas found success early on in the midrange, but so did Antetokounmpo and Lillard, leading to back-and-forth blows in the opening minutes of the game. Thompson was rolling in the first quarter, tallying 12 points off many good looks from the midrange and behind the arc. Lack of bodies made it nearly impossible to get stops, leading to a 40-28 Bucks lead after the first quarter.
The Mavericks carried their dignity into the second quarter, cutting the Bucks’ lead to six in the first four minutes, off of nice effort on both ends of the floor from two-way guard Brandon Williams. The tables turned, and the floodgates quickly flew open as Milwaukee went on a 23-10 run, and the Mavericks finished the half down 72-53.
Dallas couldn’t overcome this deficit, allowing the Milwaukee lead to grow to as large as 30 points with three minutes left in the third quarter. Naji Marshall, who had been on a cold streak, scored 10 points in this period. There is not much more to say than that Dallas simply doesn’t have the bodies to compete with the talent of Antetokounmpo and Lillard. They finished the third quarter down 106-79.
The fourth quarter was the same story; Dallas was just too undermanned to make any type of comeback in this contest, ultimately falling 137-107.
Here are a couple of things of note from tonight’s loss.
Max Christie’s opportunity for development
Tonight was Christie’s second consecutive game scoring double figures, finishing with 13 points. Over the last two weeks, we have seen that Christie is still a young player with plenty of room to grow on both ends of the floor.
He has shown flashes of becoming a great offensive player with his expanded role since coming to Dallas, having more opportunities with the ball in his hands. He credited Jason Kidd for trusting him, saying that it has helped him take a leap in his game. The remaining 19 games of the Mavericks’ season allow Max Christie to continue the offensive development that Jason Kidd has envisioned in him, and I trust that he is up for that challenge. I would like to see him improve his efficiency and decision-making over time. He works hard and has all the abilities to become a fun player with this opportunity.
The Tankathon is back
With Irving’s ACL injury, it has been reported by ESPN’s Shams Charania that Anthony Davis might be shut down for the season. While it is still expected that the Mavericks’ big-man trio of Davis, Gafford, and Lively will be reevaluated on Thursday, the smart decision would be to let Davis go ahead and get the required surgery to repair his adductor strain. It just doesn’t make sense to bring Davis back to play without a point guard in Irving.
At this point, it is in the Mavericks’ best interest to position themselves to have a favorable draft pick this summer. They will lose a lot of games due to injuries alone. Tonight’s loss puts the Mavericks two games ahead of the Phoenix Suns for 10th in the West, with 19 games left.
It brings me fear to think about what Nico Harrison may do with a lottery pick this summer, but the Mavericks need to pull the plug on this season and hope they find a guy who can contribute right away, like Dereck Lively did.
The 32-31 Mavericks are back in action Friday night as they play the Memphis Grizzlies in a divisional matchup at 6:30 p.m. CT on ESPN.
