DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks players who filled in Wednesday were not flat so much as a little fatigued and jet-lagged, coach Dusty May said Thursday, a day after a 101-97 preseason loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Mavericks returned from the NBA China Games in Macao less than 48 hours before Wednesday’s game, after an 18-hour flight. Dallas shot 35.3% from the field and 10-of-49 from 3-point range against New Orleans.
The shots were a little short, in May’s view. Thursday’s practice went toward repairing themes the Mavericks have not done well on both sides of the ball.
“I didn’t think that they were flat as much as just a little bit shorter on their shots, and just didn’t have, not as much flat mentally, but just a little bit fatigued or jet lag,” May said. “I thought they were very, very intentional about repairing some things from last night’s game. Even though it wasn’t them, there’s been a few themes of areas on both sides of the ball that we haven’t done well. And I think our guys were very, very conscious of that today, and we took a step forward in fixing a few of those.”
Dusty May On Learning From Different Defenses
May does not get antsy this close to the season. The Mavericks are building the base of their scaffolding, in his words, before they can keep going up.
“Not really. Me personally, I don’t get antsy. Just what do we control today? And it’s just preparing for, it’s like the scaffolding,” May said. “Right now we’re building the lower levels of our scaffolding, and for us to continue to go up and up and up, we have to have a good base and a good foundation.”
The Mavericks learn more about themselves from how other teams defend them, according to May. The question is whether they have answers that fit their personnel.
“You learn so much more about yourself from other teams. For example, your schemes defensively, you start to see a pattern of how you’re being defended,” May explained. “And then it’s a matter of, can you find the right answers to the problem? There’s a lot of different answers to each problem in our game, but does it fit your personnel? Do you guys do that well, and then can you counter how you’re being guarded or things like that?”
“So we’re making progress,” May continued. “This group’s shown a real willingness to plug holes and find solutions.”
May On The Late Play That Got Dallas Mavericks A Three
Dallas trailed by 14 and cut New Orleans’ lead to one possession late. After watching the film, May liked a set the Mavericks ran late in the game that produced a 3-point shot, for the screening and for the lessons in it.
“I thought we set a couple good physical screens, and most importantly, there’s some lessons within the play that we’re good at teaching,” May said.
The Mavericks committed 27 turnovers Wednesday, and New Orleans scored 27 points off them. Dallas won the rebounding battle 48-40 and scored 27 second-chance points.
May expects Friday’s preseason finale against the Atlanta Hawks to look much closer to a regular-season game, with more of a regular rotation. Marcus Sasser is expected to play a little, and Moussa Cissé sat out practice with a slightly tweaked left ankle.
Tip-off against the Hawks is set for 7 p.m. CT Friday at American Airlines Center. Dallas opens the regular season Oct. 21 at the Houston Rockets, with tip-off set for 7:30 p.m. CT.
