Mavs Coach Jason Kidd Speaks on Sitting Christian Wood Despite Hot 4th Quarter

Christian Wood put together a big scoring run in the fourth quarter of the Dallas Mavericks' regular season opener but was limited to 24 minutes.

The Dallas Mavericks opened their 2022-23 season with a 107-104 loss to the Phoenix Suns. Despite achieving a 22-point lead at one point, the Mavs found themselves in a clutch-time duel that proved to go the Suns' way. 

The fourth quarter alone featured no shortage of ups and downs, with the peak being Christian Wood scoring 16 consecutive points. The Mavs opted to sit him for much of the final stages, and overall, he was limited to 24 minutes of playing time overall in the game. 

Kidd made the decision to sit Wood after he got hot in the fourth quarter due to a need to deploy a more defensive oriented lineup with Maxi Kleber at the five. The option of deploying Kleber was meant to offer defensive impact while still stretching the defense. 

“We were going a little bit offense-defense and just seeing how that was going to go,” coach Jason Kidd said. “I wanted to see, understanding, with Maxi out there defensively. And then also offensively, being able to stretch (the defense), so we don’t lose anything there.

“And then C-Wood, offensively, we wanted to see how he handled it. And then defensively, coming down the stretch we wanted to see a couple of minutes there from him.”

Wood finished his performance with an impressive 25 points, eight rebounds, and two assists with four makes from beyond the arc. He produced the highest scoring outing of any bench player in a 2022-23 NBA season opener.

“I thought he did great,” Kidd said. “He let the game come to him. He was C-Wood. We’re asking him to do a lot not just on the offensive end, but (also on) the defensive end.

“Again, (he was) knocking down the threes to keep us going there in that third. It was big for us, and then when you look at it defensively, I thought he did a really good job.”

The Mavs will continue to build chemistry not only with the players they added in the offseason like Wood, but with returning players filling new roles. As that progresses, Wood could see more of the floor down the stretch of close games. 

Next up on the Mavs' schedule is a game against Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday in what will be the team's home opener.

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