You can look at the stats and see the Mavericks dominated the Grizzlies, but there were two areas that led to defeat: the turnover battle and offensive rebounds. The Mavericks committed 20 turnovers, including 10 in the fourth quarter, in a 91-90 loss Friday night to the Memphis Grizzlies. On top of that, they allowed Memphis to recover 14 offensive rebounds and turned those rebounds into 16 second chance points. Those multiple opportunities overshadowed a solid defensive performance where Dallas forced Memphis into shooting 38.8% from the field.
The rebounding issues really dominated the first half, Memphis had 11 offensive rebounds by halftime. Coach Rick Carlisle explained the reasoning for the extra opportunities for Memphis, "In the first half, we got stuck in a lot of situations where Tyson (Chandler) was helping. He would force a missed shot or he would influence a shot, negatively, it would miss and then we weren't able to crack down and get a body on (Marc) Gasol." An ankle sprain had Gasol's game-time availability in doubt, but he tested his ankle before the game and felt good enough to play. He finished with 10 points and 15 rebounds (6 offensive) in 33 minutes of action.
Despite the rebounding issue, they still had a chance to win the game on multiple occasions. Dallas had the ball with a chance to win the game in the closing moments, but turnovers forced the Mavericks into situations where they couldn't even attempt a single shot. With 6.9 seconds left, Jason Kidd got the ball to Jason Terry, who had it tipped away by Rudy Gay, which forced Terry to call timeout with 1.9 seconds left. On the second in-bounds pass, Kidd misfired to Terry for the 20th turnover of the game. The last few seconds were instances where mistakes, "defy logic" as Carlisle put it. "We made a lot of the same mistakes, so I’ve got to coach harder on those things obviously," Rick Carlisle said. "The key thing is to keep our aggressiveness and eliminate mistakes."
Tyson Chandler attributed some of the turnovers to, "playing really unselfish." This has been an issue for the Mavericks in previous years. Chandler elaborated on the theory, "you try to pass the ball too much and right now we're kind of doing that." Many believe that it's just a growing pain that will go away as the season moves farther along and they continue working together.
Prior to the game, Carlisle declared that, "we want to be a systematic defensive team. We want to be a contain-contest team and we want to rebound." The bar has been set and after two games, it appears the Mavericks are on the right path defensively. They do need to go back to the drawing board on how to close out a defensive stance with a rebound.
Quick Notes:
- The Mavericks entered Friday night's match-up against Memphis with a 17-1 all-time record at home against the Grizzlies. The win total marks the most wins the Mavericks have had against any time on their home court. Before Friday's game, they hadn't lost at home to the Grizzlies since Nov. 26, 2005.
- Caron Butler was a very capable sidekick to Dirk Nowitzki on Friday night, scoring 18 points but he had the most shots out of any of the Mavericks (17). When asked if he was looking for Butler to be the player with the most attempts, Carlisle said, "If he's open, he should shoot, but I don't expect him to be our leading shot taker...this is two games out of eighty-two, so let's come back in 2 weeks and let's see where they (the attempts) are."
- Tyson Chandler and Brendan Haywood combined for three points and two shots. When the Mavericks are in the half-court offense, it is likely that they will not be the primary or secondary option. They will have to capitalize on pick and rolls and transition offense.
- Dirk predicted that Roddy Beaubois will not be back until December, "we tried [three] weeks ago, and it wasn’t happening, so I think this time we’re going to shut him down until he’s all the way right." Mark Cuban made it plain and simple, "there is no rush." By now, everyone should understand the importance of being patient with recovery process. Jason Terry will need to continue to shoulder the scoring load until Beaubois is able to return.
- Shawn Marion should be a focal point for the offense when he comes off the bench. "I look to get him involved right away with play calls," Carlisle explained prior to the game, "we want to get him on the move where he's best."