Two things we learned from the Mavericks 122-112 loss to the Grizzlies

The Mavericks “pick up” a crucial must-lose game against the Grizzlies, 122-112, to retain better lottery odds than Memphis in a game that can be categorized as not the best.

Memphis stormed out to a big lead in the second quarter. They outscored Dallas 34-21 in that period and never looked back after that. Delon Wright led the offensive outburst for the Grizzlies tallying 26 points in the contest.

Salah Mejri hit a pair of threes in this game, which might mean his jump shots aren’t just a gimmick thrown in at the end of a tanking season. The Tunisian Tower put up an impressive showing in a game where he was featured heavily and assembled a highly unique stat line.

Despite a mini-rally by Dallas in the final quarter, the outcome of the game was probably all but assured when the injury report came out.

Dirk can still dunk

On the first offensive possession for the Mavericks, Trey Burke ran a pick-and-roll with a 40-year-old Dirk Nowitzki who rolled to the rim and dunked for the first time this season. It was glorious.

After this point the game was only going to go downhill and it mostly did, but nobody can take away Dirk dunking at age 40 in all his splendor.

Tanking Sucks

After season number three of the tankage these last five games would be almost meaningless if not for the celebration of what is likely Dirk Nowitzki’s final handful of games.

As fun as it is to watch a Mavericks team without Luka Doncic, Jalen Brunson, Dwight Powell, Tim Hardaway Jr., J.J. Barea, and Kristaps Porzingis, it’s actually not all that fun to watch a team missing seven players to injury.

NBA basketball is supposed to be a beautiful thing and watching which team can out-tank the other in an early April game for the third year in a row is getting old.

The lasting takeaway from this game is and always should be the fact that Dirk Nowitzki can still dunk. Everything else can fade away into memories of tanks gone by.