Mavs Game Observations: Game 5 vs Rockets

The younger brother strikes back

Photo by Richard Rodriguez / Getty Images

In my preview, I called the Mavs-Rockets rivalry a “big brother vs. little brother” matchup. Well, last night, the younger brother stood up and gave the older sibling a bruising lesson.

The Mavericks have been tempting fate lately with slow, lethargic starts, and it was only a matter of time before it blew up in their face. Despite a late rally, Dallas fell 108-102 to the Houston Rockets.

One other note: we’ll reach a milestone with this fifth game of the season, so I’ll aim to share some Mavericks team trends in the next couple of days.

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Today’s notes:

1. Let’s get physical - PART I.: Collapse on the boards (🎞️VIDEO)

2. Let’s get physical - PART II.: Battle of speed against strength lost

3. Let’s get physical - PART III.: Luka's frustrations (🎞️VIDEO)

4. A fun, but too late, late run

5. A problematic Kyrie and Luka role reversal

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1-Let’s get physical - PART I.: Collapse on the boards

Here's another reference from my preview: “The Mavericks will need to keep the Rockets’ athletes (Thompson, Eason, Whitmore) and size (Sengun, Smith, Adams) in check on the boards, as the Rockets currently rank 3rd in offensive rebounding.”

The Mavericks failed to keep anyone off the boards, struggling with Houston’s size, length, AND athleticism. They allowed the Rockets to rebound 42 percent of their misses (almost every other shot), leading to 18 offensive rebounds and 20 second-chance points.

If it doesn’t get you too down, take a look at these two minutes of the Rockets out-hustling and pushing their way to nearly every rebound. If you’d rather skip it, I can’t blame you—but I sure hope the Mavericks won’t in their next film session.

2-Let’s get physical - PART II.: Battle of speed against strength lost

After the Mavericks beat the Wolves, I highlighted Lively and Gafford winning the speed vs. strength big-man battle against Rudy Gobert. They made a difference in that game by running hard in transition and staying active on the offensive glass. Last night, however, they were no match for Alperen Sengun’s bully ball on the block.

Sengun didn’t have a great shooting night, but he still scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds—half (!) of them on the offensive end. Compare that to Gafford and Lively’s combined tally of 12 points and 6 rebounds. The Mavericks' centers couldn’t match Sengun without grabbing or holding; the Turkish big man drew 11 fouls and was a major reason both Gafford and Lively found themselves in foul trouble for most of the game. Things got so bad that we saw a rare Dwight Powell cameo in the second and third quarters.

Poor defensive rebounding and a high foul rate are becoming themes for the Mavericks early in the season—and there’s a correlation between them as well. The Mavericks rank in the bottom five in both categories after the first five games.

3-Let’s get physical - PART III.: Luka's frustrations

Another thing I mentioned in the preview was that Mavs-Rockets battles are full of contact and often come down to how the game is called, especially this early in the season. Last night, Dončić was certainly on the wrong end of that equation—most of it by his own doing.

Dončić started the game well, making his first two patented mid-range shots—ones he hadn’t been able to hit so far this season. But he followed that up by missing his next five shots, continuing the trend of early-game struggles. Dončić was 6-of-17 entering the final period. Some of the misses were shots he typically makes and will make once he sheds the early-season rust. But as often happens, the missed shots added to his frustration, which only piled up when Dončić didn’t get the calls he was looking for. In the third quarter, there was a stretch where he initiated contact and had a defender in his space on three consecutive possessions, each ending in a no-call and a forced missed shot.

It’s evident that referees aren’t rewarding offensive players for initiating contact—at least early in the season—and Dončić will need to adapt. And to his credit, he did adapt and played much better in the fourth quarter.

4 - A fun, but too late, late run

The Mavericks had another lethargic first-quarter start—missed box-outs, missed rotations, missed cuts, and even missed dunks—digging themselves an early 19-point hole.