Stats Rundown: 3 stats to know from Mavericks 138-117 loss to the Spurs

The Dallas Mavericks, or what was left of them, fell to an equally skeletal Spurs lineup 138-117. The season ended on a fitting note of defensive failure, and the game itself was defining of the “silly season” that characterizes teams out of the play-off race. The Spurs have been tanking for a while, but for the Mavs it’s a comparatively new experience.

Young players audition for their future, fringe veterans get their most run of the year, and players like Theo Pinson amass triple doubles. In a way, it’s hard to take anything away from the game which might be of value for next year, or even into the off-season. Scouring such a box score becomes a surreal jaunt through the back alleys of professional basketball, one this year’s Mavericks team had no expectation of joining.

25: Jaden Hardy points

Jaden Hardy’s development was one of the only sources of joy for Mavericks fans as the season wound down, even if his talent for scoring seemed to impact winning very little; as we’ve learned, scoring the basketball was never the issue with this team, and his strengths could only help the team so much. Nevertheless, since March 1 the young combo guard is shooting around 46% from both the field and from long range. Whether as trade bait, or as a dependable scorer once the team is built with more balance, it’s a good development.

He struggled from range Sunday’s game, and performances in such tank-fests must be taken with a grain of salt; anyone who gambles on player props or plays daily fantasy can tell you about how Trendon Watford or Terry Taylor won them a championship (see the Theo Pinson capsule below). It’s still nice to see he’s got a future as a microwave scorer, at worst. He’s been efficient for going on most of the new year. The question now becomes if his scoring acumen works in a team context, on a team hoping to win, and can his defense, passing and basketball smarts match his stroke and scoring creativity. Regardless, he is a bucket, and now we wait to see if he’s Jamal Crawford, Jordan Crawford, or something in between.

23-13-12: Theo Pinson’s triple double

It’s called the “silly season” for a reason. You may ask yourself what kind of game takes place in a professional setting which allows for such a stat line for such a player, but the Spurs were starting Sandro Mamukelashvili at center themselves (and they still outrebounded the Mavs by a large margin). I recently heard a basketball analyst suggest giving Theo Pinson more minutes could help the Mavericks, since he’s a respected locker room voice whose effort and hypothetical defense at the wing might help with effort and make lineups more functional. It was an analyst I somewhat respect, and it occurred to me that analysts really don’t watch the Mavericks. I can only hope the futility of this triple-double doesn’t get misconstrued as evidence that we needed more Theo Pinson in our lives, and I sincerely hope such a stat line is never seen again.

42-14: The Mavericks first quarter deficit

This set the record for largest first quarter deficit in franchise history.

It’s hard to take any truths about team morale or culture away from a result such as this, but games without major rotation pieces often felt like a barometer of the year. Early on, without Luka or other important players, the team would get destroyed. At one point in the middle of the season I derived some fruitless hope from Kemba Walker’s fountain-of-youth game (doesn’t it seem like parts of NBA seasons take place in alternate universes?). We all got excited when Josh Green and Jarden Hardy led the team to victory as the Kyrie trade waited to go through. Well, starting this particular game out in such a way may mean nothing, but it doesn’t exactly point to some kind of collective franchise-wide guttiness. I’ll put it this way; if it means anything at all, it is decidedly not positive.

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