Welcome to the first of a recurring series on The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly for games during the 2024-2025 season. In addition to the extensive game coverage you’ve come to expect from Mavs Moneyball, we now also give you a look at various aspects of the game that may not appear in the stat sheet. We will do this through the lens of the positive, negative and anything that might not have been so great. Without further ado, let’s get into it after the Dallas Mavericks’ 120-109 win over the San Antonio Spurs.

The good

Klay Thompson

Within the first five and a half minutes of the game, Thompson hit his first two shots, including a three, and had five points, three rebounds and two steals. He finished the night with 22 points, seven rebounds and three steals while hitting six three-pointers in 26 minutes of action. Those six three-pointers broke the previous record for threes in a Mavericks debut (five).

Kyrie Irving

It was a largely forgettable moment midway through the first quarter to see him pick off Tre Jones full-court, chase him down in a nearly eight-second foul, and then have an offensive foul thrown his way when Jones again tried to get free with the help of of a screen. . But it wasn’t. The defensive effort Kyrie showed on that play and other plays all night bodes well for things to come.

Naji Marshall

Marshall competently moving the ball up and setting up the attack on numerous occasions was a welcome sight. For a team with the defensive depth that the Mavericks feature, having a forward with this skill set should play a big role in reducing fatigue for both Luka and Kyrie throughout the season.

Luka Doncic (vs. PJ Washington)

As the Mavericks built a lead in the third quarter, we saw some great examples of defense turning into offense. In one sequence, Luka drove the length of the court, stumbling to the basket with a defender on his hip and Victor Wembanyama at the rim. Luka threw a backwards pass over his head to PJ Washington for a three that extended the Mavericks’ lead to 14.

Luka Doncic (vs. Klay Thompson)

Early in the fourth quarter, Luka passed Thompson at the three-point line, where he was so wide open that he had to take a quick dribble to get his rhythm before he could nail a three. As if it wasn’t beautiful enough in itself, Luka had turned and headed into the lane before Thompson had even released the ball, indicating it was certain he would be on his way.

3rd quarter 3s

The Mavericks got things going from the three-point line from the break, going 7-for-12 from three in the frame. After a horrible shooting start in the first half (see below), it was nice to see a glimpse of what this offense can be once things start to gel.

The bad

Tinker time

Considering the number of players absent during preseason, it was clear that coach Jason Kidd was still tinkering with the lineup. Ten Mavericks players saw meaningful floor time in the first half. The only obvious rotation piece not playing was Spencer Dinwiddie. This is the first game of a long 82-game season, so it made a lot of sense to spread the wealth and keep the minutes low, but it’s a shame to have to use regular season games to see things that otherwise would have been in the game can be vetted. preseason.

The shooting of Harrison Barnes

Harrison Barnes shot 70% from the floor on 10 shot attempts. While his 17 points don’t jump off the page, the Mavericks still need to show the lock-down defense they’re capable of when an opponent is clearly hot. Barnes got just about everything he wanted, especially in the first half.

The ugly one

First half shooting

The Mavericks recorded an abysmal FG of 28.6% and 18.2% versus three in the first quarter. At one point in the half, they missed 15 of 17 shots. No doubt this was the result of chemistry building after Luka sat out the preseason, and some likely nerves, but this is the objective lesson of ‘ugly’. If the opponent had been an upper-echelon team with established cohesion, the only thing uglier would have been the scoreboard.

Lazy plays

There were a few too many lazy plays in this match. In one sequence, after giving up a baseline drive for a dunk, the Mavericks got the ball to the Spurs. They luckily got a stop, but immediately called a timeout and probably had an unpleasant experience at the hands of Kidd.

Garbage time

Allowing a team to get 10 points out of a 21-point lead in fourth-quarter garbage time is a regular occurrence in the NBA, but it’s still a bit frustrating. Obviously it’s called “garbage time” for a reason, but I think it’s important for a team trying to build a defensive identity to carry that perseverance through to the final buzzer. This is probably more of a personal pet peeve than not, but I tend to pay attention to these closing moments in hopes that players who don’t see much floor time will show hustle and defense.

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