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Mavs Outmatched in Houston, Fall to Rockets 109-87

Mavs Outmatched in Houston, Fall to Rockets 109-87

 

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On the second night of a back-to-back, the Dallas Mavericks went into Toyota Center looking for a win against their I-45 rivals, the Houston Rockets. However, being fatigued and undermanned turned into the Mavs getting blown out on the road 109-87. As expected going into the season, Mike D’Antoni has the Rockets offense humming with James Harden running the point guard position.

 

There are many areas that can looked at as to why the Mavs got beat so badly. The first area is rebounding. The Mavs have sorely missed Andrew Bogut’s presence down low since the big man went down with a knee injury a few games ago. Houston out-rebounded Dallas 48 to 32 Saturday night, which let to many second chances for the Rockets on the offensive end. The Rockets also had 31 assists to the Mavs 18. The biggest difference, however, as is the usual case when Houston wins, was the Rockets ability to launch and hit many 3-pointers. The Mavs hit 11-of-34 on 3-pointers, whereas the Rockets hit 19-of-37 on theirs. From there, you can do the math:

 

  • Rockets hit 8 more threes than the Mavs (24 points worth)
  • The Mavs lost by 22 points

 

With this loss, the Mavs (5-18) are now tied again with the Philadelphia 76ers (5-18) for the worst record in the NBA. As bad as it hurts me to see this team struggle like this, there is a wave of peace that goes over me when I think of the Mavs being able to draft a potential franchise player like Lonzo Ball from UCLA or Markelle Fultz from Washingtion. If you haven’t paid much attention to college basketball so far this season, head over to YouTube, watch these guys’ highlights, and proceed to dream.

 

 

 

Players of the Game

 

Wesley Matthews continued his scoring onslaught, leading the Mavs yet again with 26 points on 8-of-22 from the field. With Dirk Nowitzki, Andrew Bogut and J.J. Barea out due to injuries, Wes has picked up some of the slack. He looks much more confident with his shot than he did earlier this season.

 

Harrison Barnes has rebounded well from his 11-point dud performance against the Sacramento Kings two games ago. He followed his 25-point, 8-rebound performance against the Indiana Pacers by scoring 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting and grabbing 4 rebounds.

 

As good as Matthews and Barnes have been, their teammates just haven’t been able to step up enough to make a real difference at this point. The talented wing duo combined to score 46 of the Mavs 87 total points (yikes).

 

Highlights of the Game

 

Even though Harden nearly notched a triple double Saturday night, we’re going to focus on the plays where he got owned by Barnes and Dwight Powell. I hope you enjoy and that it makes you feel better.

 

 

 

 

 

Up Next

 

Monday, the Mavs head back home to take on the Denver Nuggets (9-15) at American Airlines Center. The game will tipoff at 7:30 pm CT. With news surfacing that Dirk could be practicing next week, hopefully he’ll be back soon, and we can go back to enjoying what playing days he has left.

 

 

 

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Born and raised in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. I received my Bachelor's degree in Business Administration - Entrepreneurship from the University of Southern Mississippi. If you're unfamiliar with Southern Miss, think Brett Favre. I'm currently working full time as a salesperson for my family business. My fiancé and I are huge MFFLs, and we never pass up a chance to see the guys play in person.

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