Dejounte Murray's Big Game Leads Hawks Over Mavs: 3 Big Takeaways
The Dallas Mavericks (24-22) returned from a five-game road trip with a 130-122 loss to the Atlanta Hawks (23-22) on Wednesday.
The Hawks came out of the gate with a 40-point first quarter, but it was in the fourth quarter that lasting separation was achieved. A floater by Trae Young put the Hawks up 126-120 with 41.1 seconds left to play proved to solidify the outcome. A nightlong inability to get defensive stops trickled into clutch time.
Here are three big takeaways from the Mavs' loss to the Hawks.
3. Key Players Returned; Bench Looked More Capable
After going weeks without either Josh Green or Dorian Finney-Smith in the lineup, the Mavs gained both of them back on Wednesday. Both players are still working their way back into their form before their injuries, but the impact was apparent in various key areas.
Green brings an element that only a few players on the roster can provide. His improved three-point shooting is helpful, but his ability to attack downhill to finish in the paint or create for a teammate acrobatically is vital. He totaled nine points without missing from the field.
Finney-Smith finished with nine points but struggled to convert from deep at his regular clip as he shot 1-6, but he did provide a major boost on the boards with six offensive rebounds and nine total rebounds. He still has to physically get into a rhythm defensively as he's returning from an injury that impacted lateral movement.
It was a slow start to the season, and as expected, Reggie Bullock has been converting from beyond the arc at a much higher rate over the last month and a half. Against the Hawks, he even set a season-high in made two-point field goals with three. On the night, he totaled an efficient 18 points. With multiple cuts and a closeout attack resulting in layups, he produced in different ways.
The spot minutes that were given to Jaden Hardy and Davis Bertans even illustrated the helpful attributes they provide the Mavs when their numbers are called. Bertans converted a tough drifting corner 3-pointer for his only made basket. Hardy salved a broken play by getting to the rim against De'Andre Hunter for his only make.
2. Mavs Top Scoring Options Had Their Moments
The Mavs had their top three scoring options all reach the 20-point threshold between Luka Doncic (30), Christian Wood (22), and Spencer Dinwiddie (20). While turnovers were a concern as a team, putting up 122 points should have been more than enough to achieve a victory.
There was a clear focus from the Hawks to try to load up against Doncic to slow him down after he scored 19 of his 30 points in the first quarter. What stood out about the impact of Wood and Dinwiddie was how they each took ownership of taking pressure off Doncic after the opening period.
Wood offered his greatest impact during the third quarter, scoring 11 of his 22 points. He also added three assists to go along with his scoring. He produced an impressive stretch of self generating offense in addition to attacking within the flow. He showed off his rare combination of scoring attributes in doing so.
Dinwiddie got off to a slow scoring start, but he made a variety of big shots in the fourth quarter between a pair of off-the-dribble 3-pointers and a mid-range step-back. He scored 11 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter. He's found a real rhythm in his role this season and has emerged as one of the NBA's most efficient pick-and-roll ball handlers and all-around spot-up threats.
While the trio thrived offensively, the unit at large repeatedly failed to get stops defensively. Which leads us into the next takeaway...
1. Defense Still Needs Work
The Mavs struggled to contain the Hawks' pick-and-roll heavy offense throughout the game. Even when a pass out was made to a spot-up shooter, there were inconsistent results in terms of making a hard close out along with an inability to contain the attack off the catch. The defensive struggles go well beyond one game.
Dejounte Murray posed significant problems for the Mavs' defense as he totaled 30 points on 12-18 shooting from the floor. He was converting on shots at a rate he typically doesn't, like going 4-6 from 3-point range. However, there wasn't much being done to slow him done. Atlanta had eight of their nine players that logged minutes score in double-figures.
During the month of January, the Mavs have produced a 122.6 defensive rating, meaning they are giving up 122.6 points per 100 possessions. Their results have fared better than only the Houston Rockets during this period. How can they fix their lack of execution on defense?
“Well, that’s a great question," Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. "If it’s with this personnel, you have to keep asking or demanding for those guys to play defense. It’s not, you know, just the offensive end and tonight, again we gave up 130. The team shot 57 percent … It’s a shootaround. You know in this case, in this league you do that no matter if you have Luka [Doncic], or Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] or LeBron [James], you’re going to lose.
Kidd explained further: "It doesn’t matter how many points you score, you’re always going to be short. And so until we put a better effort into playing defense and understanding what we have to do, then we’re going to score 120, but we’re going to give up 130, and 140.”
The Mavs did gain Dorian Finney-Smith and Josh Green back from injuries on Wednesday, but it could take a few games before they are back in a rhythm. It takes a collective effort to get the job done defensively, not just the return of a few players who have been sidelined.
“I think a lot of it is communication," Green said of the Mavs' defensive woes. "We’re trying to communicate. We know the potential we have on the defensive end, so it’s just a matter of doing it – locking in and doing it – because when we play defense at a high level it’s very hard to score against us and very hard to beat us.
Green explained: "I think that’s our main thing right now going into tomorrow, going forward, is defense. It starts with everybody. I need to be more vocal, and so does everybody else. Just have to work on it.”
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