3 takeaways from the Mavericks’ disappointing loss to the Trail Blazers

On By Littum

The Dallas Mavericks fell on the second night of a road back-to-back to the Portland Trail Blazers, 126-122, in a disappointing defensive effort from what we saw Friday night against the Phoenix Suns. Portland carved up the Mavs’ defense, with five players scoring 19+ points. But it’s kind of understandable that Dallas’ defense was underwhelming considering they had to fly 1000+ miles for the second night of a back-to-back.

Kyrie Irving was incredible, but not good enough to lift the Mavericks to a win. They’ll get PJ Washington back from a one-game suspension for their next game, and he’ll be needed.

Here are three takeaways from Saturday’s loss to the Blazers.

READ MORE: Mavericks fall to Trail Blazers despite 46 points from Kyrie Irving, 126-122

Kyrie Irving is good enough to carry the Mavs most nights, but the defense couldn’t get enough stops in this game. That didn’t stop Irving from putting up a ridiculous 46 points on 16/26 shooting from the floor and 5/12 from three, his season high. That includes 20 points in the fourth quarter as he tried to rally his team. He’s still as awe-inspiring of a player as there is in the NBA at 32 years old.

With Luka Doncic out for a month with a calf strain, it would be nice for Klay Thompson to step up a bit, and he has been disappointing the last two games. He had 12 points on 5/17 shooting from the floor and 2/8 shooting Saturday night, missing a few open shots that we expected him to hit. With some big games coming up against the Cleveland Cavaliers and Houston Rockets, he will need to play at a high level to beat these teams.

The Trail Blazers shot 46/92 from the floor, including getting 41 shot attempts at the rim. Even though they “only” made 24 of them, that’s way too many and an example of Dallas’ poor perimeter defense in this game. Scoot Henderson had his second-highest scoring game of the season with 19 points and was the fifth-highest player on the night for the Blazers. It just can’t happen for Dallas to be successful. Having PJ Washington back for their next game will help, but other guys need to step up as well.

READ MORE: The home of Mavericks star Luka Doncic was burglarized Friday night

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