No Luka, Lots of Problems: Doncic-Less Mavs Stink It Up in Loss to Rockets; NBA Roundup

The Dallas Mavericks would've loved to add a ninth win to their record on Wednesday night when they faced the Houston Rockets with Luka Doncic getting the night off. However, the game went exactly how one would've expected it to go based on how Dallas has looked without Doncic on the floor this season.

Dalton Trigg | Nov 17, 2022

There’s never a good time to rest the NBA’s top scorer, but if the Dallas Mavericks were going to squeeze in a night off for Luka Doncic, doing it against the worst team in the league on the second night of a back-to-back was the best option available.

The Mavs showed why Doncic can’t afford time off, though, as they fell to the Houston Rockets 101-92 at American Airlines Center on Wednesday night in disappointing fashion.

Dallas built a 51-42 lead with four minutes left in the second quarter, but then gave up a 15-0 Houston run and trailed 57-51 at halftime. After making the game close in the fourth quarter, the Luka-less Mavs were outplayed and out-coached by the Rockets down the stretch. Tim Hardaway Jr. and Christian Wood combined for 54 points on the night, but they did it on a combined 48 shot attempts.

On this episode of “Morning Coffee” with Mavs Step Back, we recap Dallas’ disappointing loss, as well as take a look at everything else that happened during the NBA’s Wednesday-night slate. As bad as Mavs have looked so far in their six losses, their start to the season still isn’t nearly as disappointing as the defending-champion Golden State Warriors.

As always, thanks for listening, and be sure to subscribe on all your favorite podcast platforms! We’d love for you to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify as well if you haven’t done so already.

Want the latest in breaking news and insider information on the Mavericks? Click Here.

Follow DallasBasketball.com on Twitter and Facebook.

Published Nov 17, 2022

DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.