HOUSTON — The Dallas Mavericks were crushed in their regular-season opener, a 33-point loss to the San Antonio Spurs. On Monday, the Mavericks got another chance at an intrastate opponent. They were competitive against the Houston Rockets, but late-game execution issues were the difference in Dallas’ 110-102 defeat.
D’Angelo Russell’s free throw with a little less than three minutes remaining pulled Dallas within one point of the lead. The rest of the way, the Mavericks didn’t score. They missed all five shots they attempted and committed two turnovers in the final 2:49 of the game.
The Mavericks, who during training camp said they had aspirations of competing for a championship this season, will head back home with the fourth-worst point differential in the NBA, the league’s 30th-ranked offense and the knowledge that they are third in the pecking order of the Lone Star State’s teams.
“We had some great looks,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said about Dallas’ late-game offense. “We aren’t shooting the 3 extremely well. But we had some looks that normally go down for us. At some point, they will this season.”
The Mavericks’ 3-point shooting was an obvious concern entering this season. So far, Dallas has shot the ball worse than even many skeptics anticipated. It made 9 of 36 from behind the arc Monday, dropping it down to 30th in 3s made per game this season.
Russell and Klay Thompson are two of the only players on the roster who have been consistent 3-point shooters throughout their careers. Seven games into the season, Thompson is 11 of 40 from distance, while Russell has converted 11 of 37 long-distance looks. In Houston, the two of them combined to make 2 of 14 on 3s.
Russell’s final attempt of the night was a 24-foot stepback with 42 seconds left. Russell launched it over Alperen Şengün’s outstretched arms and missed badly.
On the Mavericks’ next possession, Cooper Flagg’s 3 was blocked. Tari Eason’s running dunk increased the Rockets’ lead to eight points with 15 seconds left — effectively icing the game for Houston.
“I thought we made a lot of right plays down the stretch,” Kidd said. “We just couldn’t get the stop or we couldn’t make the shot. It happens. We just have to stay together, keep working. We’ll be in that situation a lot this season. Hopefully, we’ll learn from this.”
The Mavericks are going to be without Kyrie Irving, their best late-game option, until late 2025 at the earliest. Kidd stressed before Monday’s game that while Dallas would like to have Irving back before the calendar year is over, there is still no official timetable for his return.
“We still don’t have an official schedule for Kai,” Kidd said. “Once that comes out, then we can start to speculate if he’s going to be back by ’25. We do miss him.”
Anthony Davis also missed the Houston game with a left calf strain. That meant the Mavericks had to play heavily through Russell and others in the final minutes.
P.J. Washington, who scored a team-high 29 points, misfired on a potential game-tying corner 3 with 1:35 to go. Washington generated most of his offense operating in the middle of Houston’s zone defense. He played an overall excellent game, but the Mavericks’ execution issues in the final three minutes kept them from stealing a road win.
“Attack the players on the floor that can’t play defense,” Washington said. “We did that all night. We felt like we got good shots all night. We just have to do a better job of that in crunch time. That’s it.”
The Spurs are 5-1. The Rockets’ win on Monday improved their record to 4-2. The Mavericks, now 2-5 after a second straight road loss, are a notch below either of their Texas brethren. No one is hitting the panic button yet, but so far, the Mavericks have underwhelmed based on the lofty goals they set for themselves earlier this season.
“You just have to keep playing,” Kidd said. “You have to keep taking the shots. You have to keep making the right plays. No matter make or miss, if you make the right plays, good things will happen.”