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The Dallas Mavericks fell to the Minnesota Timberwolves in their final preseason game, losing 129-127 in overtime. While the extra period gave the rookies some extra playing time, it was Luka Doncic and Tim Hardaway Jr. who led in scoring with 20 and 18 points respectively. Karl Anthony Towns led his team with 20 himself, although he sat for much of the second half with foul trouble.
The starters quickly got off to an 11-3 start, thanks to a pair of three from Hardaway Jr. Minnesota took the lead with three minutes left in the quarter, however, as the Mavericks cooled a bit and Karl Anthony Towns and the rookie Anthony Edwards found their rhythm. The starters left the court after two minutes and lost 37-33 to finish the first.
The struggles on the bench continued in the second as they couldn’t stop the Wolves’ easy balls and made some “it’s preseason” mistakes. Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle finally made his headlines again around seven minutes. The Mavericks took the lead with about two minutes to go thanks to another triple from Hardaway Jr., and a late 14-2 run put them up 68-61 late in the half.
The second half started off pretty hectic with Minnesota racking up several fouls, putting KAT on the bench with five fouls, apparently the only way to stop him. The Mavericks starters maintained their seven-point margin with continuous shots from range and perfect free throws. After Doncic’s big plate to Powell for a dunk and one, the lead was pushed to 10. The Mavericks then hit four unanswered 3s to bring the lead to 98-83 after three quarters.
An odd lineup of Burke, Brunson, Johnson, Cauley-Stein and Lee opened the quarter, and some careless errors and turnovers allowed the Wolves to close the Mavericks’ lead to seven midway through the quarter. By then, Carlisle began to unload the bench, and a more talented cast of the Lobos tied the game at 112 each with two minutes remaining. With 4.5 seconds to go and time for one last shot by the Mavericks to win the game, rookie Tyrell Terry had his elbow jump blocked, giving us preseason overtime !!
The Mavericks picked the same Boban + four rookie lineup in overtime, and they stayed ahead of the Wolves with free throws and leaving Boban to work on the paint. The Wolves’ missed free throws gave the lineup another chance for a final shot. Boban tried a three to win the game, but unfortunately it was scored.
Some thoughts:
The Luka of yesteryear returns
For the most part, this is a pretty good thing, given what we saw during Doncic’s sophomore year. However, some of his more frustrating trends reappeared today, in contrast to what we saw against the Bucks. He threw eggs from the three-point line, missing six attempts. In response, he began to pass up 3-point wide shots that he would have taken in Bucks games, opting for the shots to the basket that we saw with increasing frequency toward the end of last season. That said, he was great from the free throw line, hitting 8 of 9.
He also continued to screech at the referees, frustrated by the lack of calls on many of his shots, to the point where he received a technique in the third quarter. Reminder, that’s your second PRE-SEASON technique. It’s safe to say that last year the umpires just didn’t know how to handle their style of play at times. We will have to see if that changes this season and, if not, how Luka responds to that adversity.
The hot shooting from deep continues
One thing that carried over from the Bucks games was the insane 3-point shooting across the board (plus Luka). The Mavericks finished 20 of 44 from distance, exemplified by a stretch in the third quarter of four unanswered 3-pointers. What might be the most impressive thing about that run is that they were beaten up by four different players: Kleber, Finney-Smith, Richardson, and finally the newcomer Courtney Lee.
It’s RARE for multiple high-volume players to shoot more than 50 percent of three in multiple games, and that’s what we saw in preseason. Hardaway Jr., Finney-Smith, Kleber and Richardson had a wild 14 of 19 out of three today, and it has spelled great things for all four of them going forward. Richardson has specifically shown that he can provide much of the shooting that the Mavericks missed with the departure of Seth Curry.
Powell fought against the great rivals
Dwight Powell, returning from an Achilles tear, has reassured Mavericks fans so far in preseason with his movement and verticality for the most part. He’s also remained a dangerous lob threat playing players like Doncic, and he’s even been willing to shoot (and make one) three when left open.
His defense against big rivals, from Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brooke Lopez to Karl-Anthony Towns tonight, has left a lot to be desired. KAT just dominated it multiple times on the post to facilitate layups or dunks. At other times, he would leave Powell in the dust with a dummy bomb that Powell would always react to, opening a lane to the bucket. Powell’s biggest defensive advantage lies in his perimeter defense and overall athleticism, but when he is placed in a single big on the post, he has neither the length nor the size in most cases, and the Mavericks paid for it in many plays.
Powell’s place as a starter in the starting lineup has been and will be a topic of debate among the MFFL, with the likes of WCS, Kleber and James Johnson in the mix, but it seems Carlisle intends to keep him there for now. We will see how these questions are answered once the season begins.
The Mavericks will open the season on Wednesday, December 23, against the Suns in Phoenix.
