TORONTO — The Mavericks won’t be at full strength any time soon, but they were as close as they’re going to get in their Sunday showdown against the Raptors.
With the return of Marvin Bagley III, coach Jason Kidd had access to every player on his roster except Kyrie Irving, Dereck Lively II and the team’s trio of two-way players.
Kidd hasn’t had the luxury of having options within his rotations this season because of injuries, instead relying on the best lineups available out of necessity. Even with a nearly full-strength roster, Dallas couldn’t snap out of its funk and suffered a 122-92 loss to the Raptors at Scotiabank Arena.
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The Mavericks, who’ve lost seven straight games, are still working through their lack of offensive cohesion, apparent by their 20 turnovers and 3-point struggles.
“You can never move quick enough from one of these,” Kidd said. “Just talking to the team about certain things that we have to get better at. That’s the talk and staying together. … And just talking about talking care of the ball. I stopped counting after 9 [turnovers] there in the first.”
Dallas’ turnover nightmare was caused by consistent pressure from Toronto, which coincided with Cooper Flagg attempting to shake off the rust in his third game back from a left midfoot sprain.
Flagg finished with 17 points, seven rebounds and six assists, but the Raptors’ eighth-best defense in the NBA sent multiple bodies at him throughout the game and presented an uncomfortable and frustrating playing experience for his first NBA game in Toronto.
He committed four turnovers, but didn’t allow his offensive struggles to prevent him from competing defensively with three blocks and two steals.
Flagg’s frustrations boiled over early in the fourth quarter and he was issued the first technical foul of his NBA career. The Mavericks rookie received just three free-throw attempts on Sunday despite several drives to the basket, often through contact, and argued with an official to receive the tech. Flagg was handed a towel in the ensuing timeout and he threw it toward the bench shortly before his night came to an end.
After the game, Flagg addressed the technical foul, a rare occurrence given he wasn’t called for one in the first 51 games of the season nor during his lone season at Duke.
“It is what it is,” Flagg said. “I gotta be better at just slowing down a little bit. Been playing a little too fast since I got back. I don’t know. I was frustrated. Kind of let it out. Gotta just move on.”
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Daniel Gafford shone brightest for the Mavericks with a season-high 21 points and 11 rebounds. He was one of just three players to reach double scoring figures, while Toronto had six, led by R.J. Barrett’s 31 points. Brandon Williams added 16 points off the bench, and accounted for one of Dallas’ rare triples.
Three-point success was few and far between for both teams on Sunday. The Mavericks converted on 5 of 30 from beyond the arc, while Toronto made just 10 of 36 of its 3-point attempts.
Max Christie’s recent 3-point struggles continued. He finished with just two points and three rebounds on 1 of 11 shooting. That offensive drought included seven misses from beyond the arc.
Before the game, Kidd was asked about Christie’s shot volume and quality.
“I think he’s taking what’s there,” Kidd said. “If they’re closing out, he’s trying to drive the ball and then if he’s open, shooting it. I thought he got off to a really good start in Orlando. Klay [Thompson] is the one that is taking and making. We would like Max to do the same.”
With the loss, the Mavericks fall to 21-43 and they’ve lost seven straight games dating back to Feb. 24, including four consecutive during this six-game road trek. After playing in “The North,” they’ll head south for a matchup against the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday.
Now that the Kidd has more flexibility, he could look to make changes to the starting lineup, which he intimated after the loss.
“We gotta look at some different combinations here as we go forward,” Kidd said. “Maybe looking at the starting group. Maybe it’s different combinations there in the first quarter. We’ll look at that as we get to Atlanta. We didn’t shoot the ball well nor did we take care of the ball. It’s hard to win in this league if you don’t do those two things well.”
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