Mavs Game Observations: Game 7 vs Pacers [Game of the Week]
Dragged into an uphill race...again
New season, new personnel, new hopes—but the same script and another disappointing result against the Indiana Pacers. Dallas fell 134-127 on a back-to-back, once again caught in Rick Carlisle’s well-laid trap.
We’ve seen this script from Carlisle countless times before in Dallas: pulling opponents into a run-and-gun shootout, then junking up the defense just enough to get one or two key stops and pull off the upset.
Despite the loss, this was an exciting, fast-paced game with plenty of chess match moves, fully justifying the Game of the Week selection. Game of the Week previews and post-game notes are fully available for everyone. For other games, some insights will be exclusive to paid subscribers, so if you’re able, please consider upgrading to support the work!
Today’s notes:
Another fight right up Carlisle's alley
Third loss, third big man dominating the Mavericks
Too small and too slow
A fun, tactical chess match (🎞️VIDEO)
A 20/6/5 Naji Marshall game
1-Another fight right up Carlisle's alley
The Mavericks tried to beat the Pacers at their own game, getting into a running match, but the Pacers once again proved they’re the fastest team in the NBA, both in pace and processing. The Mavericks were a step too slow all night—whether in transition, on basic perimeter drives, or trying to sort out rotations in the Haliburton-Turner pick-and-roll.
Dallas played their best offensive half-court game of the season, posting 114.6 points per 100 possessions in the half-court (so excluding putbacks and transition)—more than 5 points better than the current best mark in the NBA, held by the Celtics at 109.2. But there were two problems: the Pacers were even better, and every single time the Mavericks missed, the Pacers pushed it to the other end and scored a layup in transition. Indiana outscored Dallas 26-15 on fast break points—a decisive eleven-point margin in a game that was close until the end.
2-Third loss, third big man dominating the Mavericks
We’re seven games into the season, and we’ve now seen a third opposing big man have a dominating performance against Dallas—and we’re not talking about Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokić or Anthony Davis here. Jusuf Nurkić and Alperen Sengun dominated with strength, while Myles Turner did it with skill and shooting.
Dereck Lively II being a late scratch for this game put a lot of pressure on Daniel Gafford to keep up with the cat-and-mouse game that is the Tyrese Haliburton-Turner pick-and-roll, and it went poorly from the start: Turner had another 30-point game against Dallas. His ability to stretch the floor by popping for a three out of the pick-and-roll (or sinking a quick transition trail long-range shot), as well as his skill in posting and sealing after a switch, was too much for the Mavericks once again.
Gafford was a non-factor for most of the night, once again struggling to process the game at the speed needed against fast-paced, floor-spreading teams like Indiana or Boston.
3- Too small and too slow
Without Lively (and Kleber), and with Gafford’s struggles, Jason Kidd was forced to play small for most of the night. Playing small led to several problems:
The Pacers’ pace put the smaller Mavericks in constant cross-matches against Turner and Siakam on the block.
The Mavericks managed only four offensive rebounds against the league's worst defensive rebounding team.
The Mavericks had no paint protection.
The last issue was especially painful, as the Mavericks couldn’t contain the Pacers’ guards from driving to the paint. Here’s a quote from my preview:
"With Turner at center, the Pacers have enough shooting to punish the Mavs’ tactic of packing the paint, and if they make their outside shots, the Mavs’ perimeter defense will have to defend the drive with less help than usual."
The Pacers' early offense attacks, involving guard-to-guard exchanges on the wing and quick actions, put immense pressure on the perimeter defense, and the Mavericks just couldn’t stay in front of anyone. Botched switches, miscommunications, and plain blow-bys led to open layups and dunks. The Pacers shot 25 of 30 at the rim last night, including 17 of 21 in half-court play if you exclude transition.
Similar to what happened in the Finals, a 5-OUT open floor exposed some of the defensive challenges of a backcourt consisting of Dončić, Irving, Thompson, and Dinwiddie—limitations usually covered up by the Mavericks' scheme and rim-protecting big men.
4-A fun, tactical chess match (🎞️VIDEO)
Despite being an up-and-down, run-and-gun contest, this game featured several interesting tactical battles. I mentioned Indiana pushing the pace and running quick early offense sets to attack the paint before the help could set. Carlisle had several counters to exploit mismatches when the Mavericks switched a smaller player onto Turner or Siakam.
On defense, Carlisle surprised by having both Turner and Haliburton show and recover on most screen actions, leaving the primary defender a step behind the action and thus opening driving lanes for Dončić and Irving, who scored 34 and 27 points, respectively. Indiana struggled to defend the drive without fouling, with Dončić drawing 15 free throws. Dallas had some nice counters to attack the Pacers’ show-and-recover coverage and should especially build on those involving Klay Thompson as a screener in guard-to-guard setups.
Carlisle’s adjustment to the Mavericks hunting Haliburton was a zone, with Turner positioned in the middle. It wasn’t super effective, but it was enough to throw Dallas off rhythm down the stretch. As mentioned, in a chaotic, run-and-gun game like this, all Indiana needs is a couple of timely stops.
5- A 20/6/5 Naji Marshall game
Yesterday, after the game against Orlando, I did a film breakdown of how Naji Marshall filled the Dante Exum role as a connector and by pushing the pace. Last night, Marshall was even better—way better, to be exact. He had one of the most well-rounded games we’ve seen from a Mavericks role player, scoring 20 points on 8-of-9 shooting and adding 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and a steal.
If there’s one positive from last night’s loss, it’s that Marshall is establishing himself as a key part of the rotation. “The Knife” hit his first two three-point attempts of the season—after missing his previous nine—and if he can add an outside shot to his already impressive transition and drive game, the Mavericks will have more flexibility and options to absorb some of P.J. Washington’s off shooting nights.
The Pacers were helping aggressively, filling the gaps off Washington last night, and the Mavericks forward couldn’t make them pay: he went 0-of-5 on three-point attempts and even airballed his final open look from the corner in the fourth. P.J. Washington is currently shooting 23 percent from three-point range this season.