‘Staying True To Our Identity’: Dusty May Sets Expectations For Dallas Mavericks vs. Winless Sacramento Kings

DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks take a three-game winning streak into Monday night’s home game against the winless Sacramento Kings, and Mavericks coach Dusty May said before tip-off that the priority is staying true to the team’s identity.

Dallas is 4-2 after Friday’s 116-111 win over the Houston Rockets, which handed Houston its first loss of the season. Sacramento is 0-6. Tip-off at American Airlines Center is set for 7 p.m. CT, and the Mavericks will be without Kyrie Irving (left knee injury management).

There are still areas the Mavericks need to shore up, May said, and he wants to see them make progress there.

“More than anything else, just staying true to our identity. We have to continue to get better. There’s still some things that we need to shore up, and we need to make progress in those areas,” May said. “We’ve been pretty steady as far as our improvement throughout the first couple weeks, and so that’s the biggest thing, to look like we’re really playing with great intention, and our home fans deserve our best effort as well.”

Dusty May On The Mavericks’ Depth

Fifteen players have appeared for Dallas through six games, and 10 of them are averaging at least 15 minutes. Santi Aldama (right knee surgery) is doubtful Monday, while Sergio De Larrea (right knee sprain), Tarik Biberović (right heel bursitis), and Dereck Lively II (right foot surgery) are out.

Each night brings different challenges and a different player who has it going, May said.

“It makes the decision-making much more difficult because you have so many guys who are all similar skill sets, similar stages of their careers, things like that, and they’re all capable. But each night presents different challenges, and each and every game, someone different kind of has it going,” May explained.

“So, obviously, when you have some players out, it’s even more of a luxury because, obviously, with Kai out, it gives a couple of the other young guys much greater opportunity. So, and we’re very confident in those guys, and the experience is important for them,” May continued. “But, yeah, games like this are where depth really comes into play.”

Dallas still has players on minutes restrictions, May said, which has the staff juggling lineups and combinations it hopes will settle later in the season.

“There’s certain matchups where we’ll play this guy because he’s a better defender for us, and this guy, maybe we need some offensive pop. And sometimes it’s just a game. If we’re struggling making shots, maybe the guy who shoots a little bit better will get the nod,” May said.

“And we still have some guys on minute restrictions and things like that. So, we’re juggling a lot of different lineups and a lot of different combinations, which hopefully later in the season we’ll be a little more settled in,” May added. “But whatever it takes to find a way to win each particular game is the goal.”

How Dallas Answered Houston’s Second-Quarter Run

Houston beat Dallas 128-110 in the season opener on Oct. 21 after outscoring the Mavericks 38-12 in the second quarter and taking a 70-38 halftime lead. On Friday, the Rockets won the second quarter 31-17 and led 51-44 at halftime.

Dallas shot 5-of-20 in that second quarter. The Mavericks then outscored Houston 72-60 after halftime, including 40-27 in the fourth quarter.

Dallas had transition chances and open threes in Friday’s second quarter that did not fall, May said, and a couple rolled all the way down and out.

“I thought we did a really nice job. We’ve came a long way since game one when they hit us in the mouth and we didn’t respond, especially in the second quarter. This game, they hit us again in the second quarter, and we were able to bounce back and kind of hang around until we made our run,” May said.

“And it’s a game of runs. I thought, especially in the second quarter, we thought we were getting great looks. We had some transition pitch. We had open threes. We had a couple go all the way down and out. We just, we didn’t convert. But we hung around and then we made our run,” May continued. “Whereas in Houston, when those shots weren’t going in, we weren’t able to hang around and stay within striking distance. And obviously, our guys down the stretch, our superstars, just made winning play after winning play.”

Irving scored 26 of his 35 points after halftime, including 16 in the fourth quarter. Cooper Flagg finished with 33 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists, and Kevin Durant led Houston with 28 points.

After Monday, Dallas plays at the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday and hosts the Utah Jazz on Friday in NBA Cup group play.