Mavis-Grizzlies Play-In Observations

The Mavericks’ season from hell is over, but the tough questions aren’t going anywhere

Photo by Jusin Ford / Getty Images

It’s finally over.

As much as you respect the fight the Mavericks showed after the trade and all the injuries flipped their season upside down, you couldn’t watch these last few games without quietly hoping it would just end. End the misery. End the relentless cycle of negativity that hasn’t stopped since Nico Harrison pulled the trigger on the biggest gamble in recent NBA history.

There will be time to reflect. Time for deeper thoughts—especially the ones about the future. I’m sure more news will come in the days ahead, before what’s shaping up to be a tumultuous summer.

For now, I’ll just repeat what I tweeted right after the game ended: This was a sad end to a sad Mavericks season. A season that began as the most exciting and promising in over a decade. A season that also began right here—with a preview and game observation for every game, even preseason—until the trade upended everything.

So let’s end the game coverage in the same style it started, with one last set of game observations for the final game of the 2024–25 Mavericks season.

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Today’s notes:

1. First season of the new era ended just the way it began

2. Game started and was lost on Memphis terms

3. A kingdom for a ballhandler

4. AD scoring, but P.J. and Lively lost in (no) space

5. Look at the future

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1-First season of the new era ended just the way it began

Anthony Davis didn’t deserve to be in this spot. Anthony Davis is a great player. And Anthony Davis did everything he could, dropping 40 points while clearly not at 100 percent, to make sure the Mavericks didn’t go out without a fight.

However, it felt symbolic that this new Mavericks era, with him as a focal point, ended the same way it began, when I titled his February debut “A Roller Coaster of Hope and Fear.”

It was also ironic that a player who was acquired out of fear that the other guy’s body would break down, started and ended his season with an injury.

Again, Davis was put in a tough spot from the moment he arrived in Dallas. It was clear he rushed back to prove that Harrison’s decision wasn’t as disastrous as everyone else believed. But Davis playing when it was clear he wasn’t fully healthy was just one of many questionable decisions made by the front office and the training staff.

On the DLLS Sports postgame show, my friend Marc Stein once again highlighted the turmoil that followed the dismissal of longtime head athletic trainer Casey Smith. Smith, as I mentioned in my story after the trade, was just one of many people close to Luka Dončić (and Dirk Nowitzki) who have been pushed out of the franchise in recent years. Stein also mentioned there were “very serious tensions” within the Mavericks’ medical team back in February, specifically around how Dereck Lively II’s injury and recovery plan were handled. And, I’m sure more dirty laundry will surface on Monday, when Tim MacMahon is expected to publish his long-anticipated deep dive into the current state of the Mavericks.

2-Game started and was lost on Memphis terms

I didn’t write a preview for this game, but in our pre-game chat thread I pointed out what always matters against Memphis: limit turnovers, control the pace, and keep the aggressive Grizzliies off the offensive glass.

Well, the Mavericks didn’t address any of that. The game opened in a chaos of turnovers (more on that in a minute) and quickly turned into the kind of uptempo pace the Grizzlies thrive on. In fact, this was the highest-paced game of any Play-In matchup. And despite starting the game with a huge lineup, the Mavericks still got destroyed on the offensive glass.

Forcing turnovers, pushing the pace, and crashing the offensive glass = Grizzlies basketball. And that was the style they imposed early, building a 25-point first-half lead. Despite Davis scoring at a high rate, the Mavericks never recovered.

Four Factors Accounting Net Points (Source: ESPN Analytics)

3-A kingdom for a ballhandler

“A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!” - Richard III, Act 5, scene 4, line 13

Just as Richard III charged into battle on foot after losing his horse, it was clear the Mavericks entered this struggle against the Grizzlies’ stampede barefoot and overmatched. The lack of ballhandling has been a concern we've been harping on ever since the trade—and it was already a glaring roster flaw I highlighted even before Kyrie Irving went down with a devastating ACL injury.

Last night, with the season on the line, it reached almost absurd levels right from the start. Jason Kidd—one of the greatest point guards of all time—opened the game with a huge lineup that didn’t include a traditional floor general.

As a result, P.J. Washington, Naji Marshall, and Davis didn’t just take turns bringing the ball up and initiating the offense, they also took turns turning it over. In just a little over five minutes, the Mavericks had five turnovers. All a direct result of the aforementioned trio trying to initiate the offense.

After the Mavericks beat the Kings in the first Play-In game, I mentioned how these games matter because they give the front office a small but meaningful sample of what needs fixing. Rewatching just the first five minutes of this game should be enough to set the number one priority for the summer.

4–AD scoring, but P.J. and Lively lost in (no) space

Another takeaway from this small but meaningful sample of the last 15–20 games should be the issues with spacing and shot distribution. It’s something that’s been highlighted here plenty of times already.

If the results and data from previous games weren’t already concerning and convincing enough that the two-big strategy, with Davis operating from the high post, isn’t a recipe for a great offense (which—like defense, if not more so—is essential to win a championship), then this last game should ring the final alarm bells.

The team’s other two key building blocks alongside Irving and Davis, the third and fourth best players on the roster, looked completely lost and were both scoreless in a crucial elimination game. One was playing out of position (Washington), the other outside of his offensive role and strengths (Lively).

5–Look at the future

I mentioned earlier there will be time for deeper reflection and a closer look at the Mavericks’ future options. We’ll see what Tim MacMahon’s piece reveals, what comes out of exit interviews, and whether ownership decides to take any action in the coming days.

Personally, I can’t comprehend how ownership can look around the league—at all the changes that have taken place in Memphis, Denver, Sacramento, New Orleans—and then look at the much bigger disaster in Dallas and still say, “In Nico we trust.”

I strongly believe that the fanbase, the city, the franchise, and the players need a reset to start over. Whether the egos involved are ready to accept that now is a different question.

So, we’ll see what happens next—but my game coverage is far from over. Luka Dončić and the Lakers begin their playoff run tomorrow in what should be a really fun series.

If you want to get hyped for that one, I already posted a series preview and a Dončić breakdown—both of which made me feel optimistic about their chances against Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves.

Thanks in advance to everyone who’ll be following this next chapter of Dončić’s career here on digginbasketball.