Mavs Lay New Year’s Day Egg in Utah: Jason Kidd Takes Blame for ‘Nonexistent Communication’

The Dallas Mavericks got Kyrie Irving back after a 12-game injury absence, but they started the new year off with a blowout loss to the Utah Jazz.

Dalton Trigg | Jan 2, 2024

Mavs Lay New Year’s Day Egg in Utah: Jason Kidd Takes Blame for ‘Nonexistent Communication’ /

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Dallas Mavericks

As far as starting off the new year on the right foot goes, the Dallas Mavericks did the opposite on Monday night, losing to the Utah Jazz in deflating, blowout fashion, 127-90.

From the opening tip, it was apparent that the Mavs didn’t have the juice needed to pull off a road win against a team they previously beat by 50 on Dec. 6. Although having Kyrie Irving back for the first time in 12 games was a positive, head coach Jason Kidd believes it also provided a “natural letdown” as well.

"I thought Kai (Kyrie) was good just to get back into the flow of things. Sometimes, there's a natural letdown when a player comes back from injury,” Kidd explained. “I thought the group kind of was going to now rely on Kai to kind of carry us, but give Utah credit. They came out and hit us in the jaw."

Whether it was the team collectively recovering from New Year’s Eve celebrations or something else, the Mavs just weren’t as alert as the Jazz were on Monday. Kidd took the blame for what he called “nonexistent” communication throughout the game.

Jazz Spoil Kyrie Irving's Return to Mavs Lineup After 12-Game Injury Absence

“They’re at full speed. We were at half-speed. Anytime that happens, you’re not going to have any success. And also, we didn’t shoot the three very well. So our energy was down for pretty much the whole game. It’s a seven-point game (77-70) and we had an opportunity. We just couldn’t get over the hump and they ran away with it,” Kidd said.

“The communication with our group was nonexistent tonight and as a coach, I take blame for that. We got to be better.”

After laying an egg to start 2024, the Mavs will now shift their attention to a season-long seven-game home stand that begins with two consecutive games against the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday. Dallas is 2-0 against Portland this season, so it will have an excellent chance to get back on track while working Irving back into the mix again.

Published Jan 2, 2024

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.