Same Old, Same Old: Mavs Try Nothing New, Get Familiar Results in Loss to Raptors

After hinting at lineup changes heading into Saturday's matchup with the Toronto Raptors, coach Jason Kidd ultimately didn't make any changes, and the Dallas Mavericks lost their third consecutive game. Dallas is now back at .500 on the year for the first time since Oct. 30.

The Dallas Mavericks hadn't lost three consecutive games all season heading into Saturday's matchup with the severely shorthanded Toronto Raptors. Despite leading by as many as 15 points early on, the Mavs, as they usually do, found a way to make things stressful en route to yet another frustrating loss, 105-100. Dallas fell to 9-9, and Toronto improved to 10-9.

After hinting at a starting lineup change on Wednesday when the Mavs got blown off the court by the Boston Celtics, coach Jason Kidd decided to roll out the same starting lineup of Luka Doncic, Spencer Dinwiddie, Reggie Bullock, Dorian Finney-Smith and Dwight Powell. Although that group got off to a decent start, the end result was something we've become accustomed to in the last nine games – a loss. Dallas has now lost three straight games and six of their last nine.

Although he didn't reach his usual scoring average of 34 points per game, Luka Doncic led the Mavs by putting up a team-high 24 points on 8-15 shooting. He also had seven rebounds, eight assists and two steals in 43 minutes of play. Given his high about of minutes, it wouldn't be shocking if he got the night off against the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday.

"I thought Luka did a great job of playing 4-on-3," said Kidd of Doncic taking multiple Raptors double-teams. "With the 42 minutes, he played 39 of them 4-on-3. ... He accepted the double-team and played in the pocket with the playmakers. ... We just didn't capitalize."

Dallas had four more players score in double figures, as Finney-Smith, Dinwiddie, Maxi Kleber and Christian Wood put up 16, 15, 11 and 10 points respectively. Reggie Bullock Jr., who continues to hold onto his starting gig, put up four points on 0-4 shooting in 27 minutes of action. Tim Hardaway Jr. played 17 minutes off the bench and put up four points on 2-5 shooting and being a team-worst -16 on the night.

The Raptors were without Pascal Siakam, Scottie Barnes, Precious Achiuwa and Otto Porter Jr., but Fred VanVleet, who missed the first matchup with the Mavs on Nov. 4, led the way for Toronto with 26 points and seven assists. O.G. Anunoby also put up 26 points along with his nine rebounds. The Raptors out-rebounded the Mavs 48-34, and 17 of their 48 were offensive boards.

As we wrote about on Friday, there's no easy fix for the Mavs, but there's not going to be a fix at all if no actual changes are made. Coach Kidd can keep trying to force a round peg into a square hole if he wants, but he'll likely keep getting the same results if that's the route he wants to take.

Next up, it'll be a quick turnaround for the Mavs, as they'll take on Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks on Sunday to finish off their three-game road trip. Although the Mavs will return home on Tuesday, things won't get much easier for them, as they'll be taking on the Golden State Warriors and red-hot Steph Curry.

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