Mavs Talk: Porzingis - 'We'll Be Better Than This'
On Thursday night in the American Airlines Center, The Dallas Mavericks got crushed 147-116 by a depleted Warriors team.
Golden State did not have any players taller than 6-7, yet they had no problem picking apart the Mavericks defense, shooting 57% for the game. Dallas's poor performance allowed Kelly Oubre Jr. to finish with a career-high 40 points, Steph Curry to drop 28 points in three quarters, and Draymond Green to easily post a double-double (11 points and 15 assists).
Dallas earned a halftime lead (76-74) before being outscored 73-40 in the second half. Doncic, who declined to speak with the media postgame, had a decent showing, scoring 27 points.
The Mavericks are now on a six-game home losing streak, and their season record drops to 9-14.
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Now let's hear Mavs talk:
Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle on the loss:
“This was a difficult lesson… We got seduced into a shootout with these guys, and our defense wasn’t there in the third quarter.”
Carlisle on a highly competitive first half:
“The nature of NBA basketball is to fall into a shot-trade type of back and forth when you’re hitting shots and when the other team is hitting shots… It just feels like the game is flowing and one team can outscore the other.”
Carlisle continued, “It’s a very dangerous situation to get in, especially with a team like Golden State, which is highly skilled.”
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Kristaps Porzingis, after the team watched a recording of themselves getting outscored 36-20 in the third quarter:
“It’s a tough one tonight… We want to be better than this, and we will be better than this.”
Porzingis on how he feels going into Saturday’s rematch:
“We’re looking forward to Saturday,”
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Jalen Brunson on what went wrong:
“Defense, defense, defense… We’ve got to play it,” Brunson said. “That’s unheard of —147 points is unheard of. I’ve said this so many times in postgame interviews. We’ve done the things that we know we can do defensively. It’s just that we’ve got to do it on an every-game basis.”
The Mavericks (9-14) will face the Warriors in Dallas again on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. CT.
