2 Duds, 2 bounces from the Mavericks’ heartbreaking failed comeback to the Rockets

On Thursday night, the Dallas Mavericks battled the Houston Rockets in the first game of their five-game homestand at the American Airlines Center.

Dallas entered this game with a win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on the road on Tuesday night, looking like they had plenty of momentum after this wild game earlier in the week with one of the Western powerhouses. Conference.

That didn’t end up being the case as Dallas got off to a slow start and trailed by 17 points just three minutes into the second quarter. The Mavs cut the lead to 13 points at halftime, but they couldn’t muster enough consistent firepower late in the game to win.

The offense looked extremely quiet early, and the versatile contributions that fans saw on Tuesday night were nowhere to be found early in this game. The Mavs cut Houston’s lead to three points with just over a minute left, but couldn’t come away with the win as they lost 108-102.

Nobody had much going for them outside of a few guys and Dallas falls to 3-2 with the loss.

In a game where Luka Doncic wasn’t at his best for most of the game outside of the fourth quarter, Kyrie Irving stepped up to the plate with a stellar performance.

Irving finished with 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists while shooting 10-20 from the field and 5-6 from downtown. He was locked in from the opening tip and his 3-point jumper continues to be automatic through the first five games of the season.

Irving consistently got to his spots all over the floor and made the defense pay, and he got some tough buckets early in this game when no one else could.

In the third quarter, when Dallas needed a comeback, Irving was arguably the only reliable offensive option as he got to the rim and took it upon himself to help spark a rally, but no one else could really follow suit. He took over this match, but nobody helped him in that aspect until the last 12 minutes.

Entering Thursday’s game against Houston, Doncic was coming off a 24-point game against the Timberwolves, and while he ended up hitting a big shot down the stretch, it wasn’t his best game. He shot 10-27 from the field and 1-8 from three, and that shooting slump continued against the Rockets.

Doncic finished with 29 points while shooting 12-25 from the field and 3-7 from downtown, and he didn’t look like himself nearly immediately. He couldn’t get anything going from anywhere on the floor in the first half, settling for some questionable shots early.

Rust continued into the second half, but he dominated in the fourth quarter. Doncic put the team on his back and hit some incredibly tough shots, but it still wasn’t the all-around dominant game we’re used to seeing from him. His foul trouble didn’t help either, but it’s clear there’s still some rust there from the offseason.

29 points on nearly 50 percent shooting wouldn’t warrant a dud for almost anyone else in the NBA, but his first-half struggles coupled with Dallas’ awful rebounding were two of the reasons the Mavs found themselves in such a big hole early.

Doncic took the blame for the team’s slow start after the game, and he looks to bounce back on Sunday against the Orlando Magic.

Naji Marshall has had a slow start to the season offensively during the first week of the season, but his defense has been outstanding. He prides himself on taking on the toughest defensive assignments, and he helped seal the game against the Timberwolves with a game-sealing steal on Anthony Edwards.

Marshall had a solid second half against the Rockets, finishing with four points, two rebounds, three assists and a block, and his energy was the best we’ve seen from him. He got the crowd going in the fourth quarter and he played the best defense of the night on Jalen Green.

Marshall, playing down the stretch with Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson and PJ Washington, shows how well he’s performed, and he could step into one of the most underrated X-factors on the team if he can stick it up.

His full impact doesn’t always show up on the stat sheet, and he should be able to get into his full offensive groove over the next month or two.

PJ Washington hasn’t been able to get his flow going offensively yet this season, and despite his good defense in the past few games, he hasn’t been able to make the same offensive impact that he did during the playoffs last season, especially from center.

Washington finished with six points, nine rebounds, three steals and three blocks in what ended up being a good all-around game, but he shot 0-2 from downtown. He doesn’t look all that confident in catch-and-shoot situations, and he’ll need to gain some confidence and rhythm when taking those shots to emerge as a complete offensive threat.

His scoring in the paint has been a strong point of his game so far, but he needs to be able to be the same threat from downtown that we saw during the playoffs to be the lethal threat that we know he can be , when he is called in. .

He’s shown Mavs fans plenty to be excited about on the defensive end, and his 3-point shooting should pick up again over time. There were some reports that suggested he reworked his jumper over the summer, and it could just take a little extra time to get used to if he actually made major changes with his mechanics.

Washington’s defense was the best on the team against Houston, but some threes will have to start consistently falling. Jason Kidd praised Washington’s defense after the game, and he is emerging as the team’s go-to lockdown defender.

Although Washington only shot two threes, there seemed to be a decent amount of looks that he passed up.