Woeful Shooting Dooms Mavericks in 98-95 Loss

 

Fresh off a sweep of its short two game road trip, the Dallas Mavericks returned home on Wednesday night to square off with the Atlanta Hawks.

 

Unfortunately, Dallas (13-10) was not able to overcome one of its worst shooting nights of the season and fell to Atlanta (14-9) 98-95.

 

Neither team led by more than six points and there were 20 lead changes and 11 ties. With no one able to cease control, the game came down to the wire. After point guard Raymond Felton knocked down two clutch free throws, the Hawks got the ball with 30.2 seconds remaining up 96-95. Atlanta isolated point guard Jeff Teague at the top of the key with shooting guard Wesley Matthews defending him. All was fine, until a late whistle put Teague at the line, who hit both free throws to seal Atlanta’s victory.

 

 

“I don’t know what they were looking at” Matthews said regarding the foul. “It’s crazy to me. With the game on the line, a guy coming forward at me, of course there’s going to be contact, but… I don’t know.”

 

But the game did not come down to that one foul. Dallas struggled tremendously shooting the ball throughout the entire game, and ended the night a dismal 36 percent from the field and 22.6 percent from beyond the arc.

 

Head coach Rick Carlisle said it’s easy to pick apart the team’s shooting, but there were other issues that factored into the loss as well, including a startling rebounding trend in which center Zaza Pachulia accounted for 33 percent of the team’s rebounds.

 

“Our shooting wasn’t good,” Carlisle said. “We just have to help [Pachulia] out. It hasn’t been this lopsided in recent games. But he’s really going after it. We aren’t a perfect team, and the first half just wasn’t where it needed to be.”

 

As it turns out, Carlisle was right. The six point edge Atlanta gained on Dallas in the second quarter turned out to be the difference in the game, as the Mavericks entered the intermission cold and unable to buy a basket.

 

Pachulia said at the end of the day, the team just did not do enough to win the game.

 

“It’s unfortunate,” Pachulia said. “There were a lot of fifty-fifty balls that did not go our way.”

 

Forward Chandler Parsons also rode the bench during the waning moments of the game, a move Carlisle deemed a “coach’s decision.”

 

Parson’s said he was not upset by Carlisle’s choice but rather his own performance,

 

“It’s upsetting because I’m struggling,” Parsons said.

 

Next Up: Dallas gets a few days rest before hosting the Washington Wizards on Saturday December 12. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.