The Dallas Mavericks fall at home to the Atlanta Hawks, 130-122

The Dallas Mavericks lost their third straight game, this time at home to the Atlanta Hawks, falling 130-122. This was an odd game; following a five game road trip, the Mavericks got off to a sloppy start in the first quarter, turning the ball over a ton while also giving up a lay up line at the rim. The Mavericks were never quite able to get things under control and despite taking a lead at times in the game, they were unable to hold it. A late game burst from Dejounte Murray put Dallas away and they fell for the third time in as many games.

Following the game, Josh Bowe and I did our traditional recap and it was nice to see Josh Green and Dorian Finney-Smith following a long, long absence but they were unable to help Dallas get a needed win. We discussed the things we liked about the game, including Spencer Dinwiddie’s burst, Christian Wood’s grit, and how the offense looked (at times). Then we talked about Jason Kidd’s post game frustration, which I rather agree with given how the team is structured. If everyone plays bad defense, they can’t win regularly, it doesn’t matter how much they score.

Since there wasn’t too much to say about a disappointing game that had some rather straight forward reasons, we pivot to recent news, including the Luka Doncic mural and the discussion that prompted in the Mavericks fan community. Next there’s the Luka Doncic news about his back channel push to improve the team before deadline. After that there is Mark Cuban’s intense denial that any such push occurred. Lastly there’s Maxi Kleber saying he’ll be back from his horrifying injury SOON, somehow.

This was a fun episode of After Dark, despite the loss.

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