What happens when a coach is out of ideas?
The Mavericks are better, but still not good enough. Is it time to call in a new boss?
The Dallas Mavericks looked awful last night. In a game that could have allowed them to push back against an Indiana team that had beaten them up pretty badly nine days ago, this was a real chance to demonstrate lessons learned.
Instead, it appeared they learned almost nothing, as the game in Dallas felt just as painful and hopeless as the one back in Indianapolis. Against a Pacers team with almost an identical record and an identical seeding in the opposite conference, the Mavericks could not make either fourth quarter terribly competitive in the home-and-home series nine days apart.
Obviously, styles make fights, and matchups can cause issues, so it is probably those two games with what happened in between that are particularly upsetting. The loss in Cleveland feels like an all-time fluke, if it weren't for the systemic issues unearthed yet again when the Cavaliers made it clear that, yes, you can score 23 points on the Dallas defense in the final 4:18 of regulation to steal a miracle win from a 10-point deficit.
Amazingly, the Cleveland game is down the list of things that have brought us to this point in time. Heck, even the loss in Boston is fairly easy to shake off given the quality of the Celtics and the Mavericks' inability to get any stops. Boston had seven different players hit multiple 3’s and 21 in total. If perimeter defense and defense, in general, were curious to take a test against the NBA’s elite, well, I submit that was asked and answered in Boston.
But, again, we aren’t going to get too worked up about that loss because it is just not reasonable to expect Dallas to have figured out how to go into Boston and take them down. That is how far they have to go in this league, and we knew it would be a significant upset to deal with a team that good right now.
No, this is about the last two games, in particular. You can live with a 1-3 road trip against some stiff competition that should have been 2-2 if you return to Dallas and handle your business at home.
Sunday, the Mavericks looked frustrated and listless against a Sixers team that has been in a very bad way. Luckily for Philadelphia, they ran into a Mavericks team that was plenty accommodating, and we can safely say they lost a game they could absolutely not afford to lose.
How would they respond? With hellfire and brimstone? Being shot out of a cannon and sending a message to Indiana that they arrived at the wrong arena at the wrong time, right? Wrong.