Mavs' Streak-Breaking Loss to Pacers Reveals Team's Biggest Flaw

The Dallas Mavericks saw their seven-game win streak end in a blowout loss to the Indiana Pacers on Sunday afternoon, and it wasn't hard to identify the biggest reason why.
Mavs' Streak-Breaking Loss to Pacers Reveals Team's Biggest Flaw
Mavs' Streak-Breaking Loss to Pacers Reveals Team's Biggest Flaw /
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After putting together a season-high seven-game win streak, one that tied the highest win streak in the Dallas Mavericks' Jason Kidd coaching era, the team fell flat against the Indiana Pacers on Sunday afternoon in a 133-111 blowout loss.

Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving put up their usual superstar numbers, combining for 62 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists while shooting a combined 20-43 from the field and 7-15 from deep. However, this particular loss shed light on the Mavs' biggest flaw, which is Tim Hardaway Jr. being overexposed.

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Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

In just 23 minutes off the bench, Hardaway managed to finish with 11 points on 4-12 shooting with four turnovers while being a -14 on the night. Having 12 shot attempts in 23 minutes from one player, especially one that isn't having a good shooting night, is unacceptable for a team that has championship aspirations.

"We just couldn't throw it in the ocean," Kidd said. "We had a couple of bad shots that took away some of the energy. We'll learn from it. We'll watch this, and we'll get better tomorrow."

Irving made a big push at the beginning of the fourth quarter, scoring nine consecutive points to get the Mavs within a 104-100 score with 8:56 remaining. From that moment on, Irving only got two more shot attempts, and Kidd knows that can't happen again going forward.

"Again, Kyrie, in the fourth, gets going. ... The ball's got to be in his hands," Kidd said. "Understanding when you're behind, you have to get your best shot. And we'll look at that and make sure, when Kai's going like that, he's got to be able to touch the ball and be able to make the decision."

Mavs' 7-Game Win-Streak Ends After Blowout Loss Against Pacers

Many people who don't pay close attention to the Mavs will look at that quote and think Kidd is singling out Doncic, but he's calling out his entire team – and especially Hardaway in this instance. However, Kidd is the head coach, and therefore he has the ability to limit Hardaway's minutes and shot attempts.

"Timmy has had good looks," Kidd said. "We might have to try to get him better looks, but he's had some looks that haven't gone down here of late. We have to get him going, but he's been one of the guys that scored for us."

Given Hardaway's limitations on the defensive end of the floor, he's almost always going to be a net negative if his shot isn't falling. Factor in multiple turnovers, and it makes things even worse. Hardaway has been a key piece for this Mavs roster for multiple years now, and he can still be that, but Kidd must be willing to pull the plug on nights where he simply doesn't have it in order to give Dallas its best chance of winning.


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Dalton Trigg
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.