3 stats from the Mavericks 107-77 loss against the Knicks

The Dallas Mavericks were searching for their sixth straight victory in a matchup at home against the New York Knicks. Things got off to a very rough start that continued throughout the entire first half. Early in the third, Luka Doncic took over to inject some life into the Mavs, but unfortunately it still wasn’t enough as Dallas fell to New York, 107-77.

0/12: Reggie Bullock and Maxi Kleber combined from three

Bullock struggled tonight against his former team, but he’s been a big part of Dallas’ success recently, so I don’t doubt he’ll bounce back. On the other hand, Kleber has been in a slump for what feels like some time now, but lucky for Dallas, his defense hasn’t wavered.

Coach Jason Kidd was asked by Landon Thomas about Kleber’s shooting struggles to which he responded, “I told Maxi to keep blocking shots. Don’t worry about offense, keep blocking shots. The ball is going to go in for you… He’s a shooter, he’ll figure it out.” Kleber is currently shooting 26 percent (9-of-34) in his last eight games. Dallas is going to need him to get back on track in time for playoffs.

72-50: Knicks rebounding advantage

Teams are going to have nights where shots don’t fall. That’s not something that can be controlled. Something that can be controlled however, is rebounding and effort. After going down early, Dallas struggled to get back in it. Going into tonight’s game, the Mavericks were ranked 11th best in the league in rebounds per game. Tonight, they got outrebounded by 22 while allowing 14 offensive rebounds. With Denver only one game back from Dallas in the standings, every game counts and the Mavericks cannot afford to lose games because of a lack of focus.

21: Bench points for Dallas

The Mavs bench put up 21 points with 13 coming from Spencer Dinwiddie and six in the final five minutes when Kidd decided to pull all of the starters.

It was an uncharacteristically bad shooting night for the Mavericks, but they’re going to need their bench to show up every single night in the playoffs. Doncic finished with 31 points with the second highest scorer being Dinwiddie. Tonight’s game was a wash, but hopefully they will be back on track on Thursday when they take on the Houston Rockets.

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