Mavs 'Not Too Worried' About Suns Loss; Ready for Bounce Back vs. Grizzlies
One of the Dallas Mavericks' best qualities last season was their short-term memory loss, as they bounced back from tough losses more often than not. In fact, there were only seven times where the Mavs didn't follow a loss with a bounce-back win. They only lost more than two games in a row twice, and both of those three-game skids came before Christmas.
After falling to the Phoenix Suns in a thrilling season opener on Wednesday night at Footprint Center, Dallas is hoping that bounce-back mentality from last year carries over as it hosts the Memphis Grizzlies at American Airlines Center on Saturday night. Despite a combined 60 points from Luka Doncic and Christian Wood, the Mavs weren't able to keep the Suns from coming all the way back from being down 22 points.
“We blew the lead. I think we relaxed a little bit," said Doncic, who started off his MVP campaign with a 35-point performance. “It’s a lot of points, we’re going to get there, we’re going to win. (But) we can’t be blowing leads.”
There were a number of reasons Dallas could hold onto its big lead against Phoenix – including coach Jason Kidd's head-scratching decision to pull Wood from the game in fourth when he was sizzling – but the biggest was free-throw shooting. As a team, the Mavs went 21-34 from the free-throw line. And although Wood put up an efficient 25 points in 24 minutes off the bench, he shot just 3-10 on free throws.
Having 13 missed freebies in a two-point road loss really puts things into perspective, and Kidd is preaching the importance of free throws to his team while also being encouraged by how many times they're getting to the line.
“We talked about (free throws) after the last preseason game. If you’re going to get there 30+ times, you can’t make 21 and shoot 61 percent," said Kidd.
“You can’t win, and you can’t be an elite team in this league if you’re not going to make free throws. But it’s a good sign that we’re getting to the line.”
Although the Mavs would've loved to start out their season with a win over the team they beat in a heated seven-game playoff series last season, they know it's just one game out of 82. The pieces for major success are there. Now Dallas just has to focus on putting the full puzzle together for fourth straight quarters.
“It’s (just) the first game. We’re not too worried," said Wood. "We’re going to get back in the gym and see what we can fix — our defensive things. I think that was the biggest thing for us. And just get better and take it day-by-day.”
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