The Dallas Mavericks lost another close game, this time a 123-118 loss to the Miami Heat Sunday in Miami.

It was a strange game in that it felt like the Mavericks were doing better than the scoreboard indicated. Dallas started hot, but sloppy play from the second unit resulted in a lot of passing, and the Mavericks were never really able to get over the hump comfortably.

Kyrie Irving led the team with 27 points, albeit on poor shooting numbers. This was another game without star Luka Doncic, who is out with a sprained right wrist and expected to miss the next two games against Atlanta and New York this week.

Jimmy Butler had a huge game, leading the Heat with 33 points, including the game-tying dunk in the final seconds that sent the game to overtime.

These are the numbers that caught our eye.

-59: Combined bank plus/minus

I’m being a bit cheeky with the numbers here, as the entire bench combined to yield a minus-59 in plus-minus tonight. Obviously the Mavericks bench minutes weren’t exceeded by 59 points or this game would have been over before there was a chance to go to overtime. But I’m just highlighting this number to show how miserable the bench game was for the Mavericks tonight.

Not a single bench player was positive in plus-minus. The bench trip of Maxi Kleber, Jaden Hardy and Spencer Dinwiddie played 46 minutes and shot a combined 1-for-19 and scored 7 points, with Dinwiddie taking 28 of those minutes and scoring the seven points.

Even Naji Marshall, who finished the game with a goal, didn’t play well in the first half, allowing the Heat to take a halftime lead into the locker room. It was an all-out effort from the bench that let the team down in every respect. If the Mavericks get mediocre to average play off the bench tonight, they will likely win the game by 15 points.

Dinwiddie checked into the game with just under five minutes left in the third quarter and beyond never came out again. He played the rest of the third, and all of the fourth quarter and overtime. He passed well with seven assists and no turnovers, had a huge block down the stretch, but the Heat wouldn’t guard him and Dinwiddie didn’t make them pay. A baffling lineup decision when all the starters were playing well.

19: Corner 3 tries for Miami

Dallas’ defensive philosophy is simple, but effective: wall the rim and the paint, cut off the easiest and most consistent shot in basketball (layups), don’t help too much from the corners. The Mavericks are conceding a fair number of threes above the break, betting those shots are less consistent than layups, dunks and corner threes. Sometimes Dallas gets smoked by a hot shooting team, but their presence in paint really makes things difficult for opponents.

That didn’t happen tonight, as Miami attempted nineteen corner threes, eight of which were made. It’s the most corner threes the Mavericks have allowed to one team all season, and it confused the Mavericks’ defense in many ways.

8: Turnover 2nd quarter

Dallas had 14 total turnovers, eight of which came in the second quarter when the Mavericks trailed by as many as 10 points.

If the Mavericks take better care of the ball in the second quarter, there is a good chance they will win the game. As previously mentioned, the bench contributed a lot to the sloppiness during that second quarter, as the Maveicks couldn’t find a quality offense when Kyrie Irving hit the bench.

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