Inside Report: Without Sarge inside, Mavs fall in second summer outing
LAS VEGAS — Just 24 hours after gutting out a summer league-opening win without the services of first-rounder Shane Larkin, the Dallas Mavericks were once again down a man as they stepped onto the court Sunday.
Rallying to claim a 76-73 win over Sacramento to open summer play, the Mavericks went in search of a second straight victory against the Charlotte Bobcats. However, with Larkin back in Dallas and sidelined for approximately three months due to a fracture in his right ankle, the Mavs would once again have to find a way to make up for the absence of a key contributor as big man Bernard James missed the outing due to an illness.
Unlike Saturday, however, the shorthanded Mavericks (1-1) wouldn't be able to overcome their reduced roster, falling to an 86-80 loss without the second-year big man despite a valiant comeback attempt.
"You know, we've just got to have better energy to start the game," Mavs assistant coach Monte Mathis explained after the loss. "I don't know if it was a little bit of fatigue, you know, going five straight days, but like these guys know, in the NBA it's a lot of those situations -- four games, five nights. You've got to be ready to play every night. You don't have time to say I'm a little bit tired. You know, you've got to fight through fatigue. And when the ball goes up, you've got to be ready to play."
Getting off to a slow start for the second straight day, the Mavs would quickly find themselves on the downside of the scoreboard while missing seven of their first eight shots from the floor. And just like the day prior, the Mavs would trail by as much as 14 before entering the second stanza down 20-10 following a 4-for-18 opening period.
"We're playing with new guys and everybody is trying to learn each other's comfort zones. It's just that first quarter killed us," guard Justin Dentmon admitted. "We managed to pick it up in the second half, and that's how we got it going."
Continuing to struggling shooting the ball, the Mavs helplessly watched as the separation grew on the scoreboard in the second quarter. Then, after looking up to a 25-point deficit, the Dallas team limped into the intermission down 50-28 at the half.
Led by last season's second-round acquisition Jae Crowder, the Mavs slowly created a dent in their deficit in the third quarter. But, just as quickly as it appeared that the tide was changing, the Bobcats regained the momentum to keep Dallas at bay before taking a 67-51 advantage into the fourth.
Refusing to go away quietly, the Mavs crept to within 10 with 6:44 remaining following back-to-back 3-pointers by Dentmon and Josh Akognon. Crowder took it from there, answering a score by Michael Kidd-Gilchrist with a trey of his own before a driving three-point play to cut the disadvantage to six midway through the period.
But Jeffrey Taylor's 3-pointer a short time later would extend the Bobcats' lead back to 13 as Charlotte again pulled away. No. 4 overall draft pick Cody Zeller then put the Mavs away for the night as the big man added the finishing touches to the Bobcats' win.
Leading the Mavs in a losing effort, Dentmon tallied up 18 points on 5-of-8 shooting and 2-of-3 from behind the arc in just over 20 minutes off the bench. Crowder added 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting and Akognon pitched in 16 points as well after his 22-point outing Saturday. Rookie Gal Mekel also added 11 points, however, the Bobcats' 51.9 percent shooting bettered the Mavs' 43.3 percent, adding a 39-23 rebounding margin to boot.
"We shoot 43 percent from the field and only get two offensive rebounds. You know, our big guys have got to do a better job of crashing the boards and Sarge [James] would have helped us with that," Mathis concluded.
"We've got to come ready to play, man. ... The first half both games killed us with our jump shots, so we've just got to come ready to make shots," Dentmon added.
The Mavericks will now take Monday off before returning to action Tuesday against the NBA Development League select team in the last outing before squads are seeded for a single-elimination tournament.
Click here for the complete summer league roster and schedule.
