‘Quickness To The Ball’: Dusty May Stresses Physicality Before Dallas Mavericks’ Opener At Houston Rockets

HOUSTON — Physicality and quickness to the ball are the two things Dallas Mavericks coach Dusty May has pushed his team on since the preseason games, he said Wednesday at Toyota Center before his NBA regular-season debut against the Houston Rockets.

Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. CT. Dallas hired May on June 23, a little more than two months after he led Michigan to the 2026 national championship in his second season there. The Mavericks went 26-56 last season.

May said Houston’s toughness and physicality stood out to him when the teams split a pair of exhibition games in Macao earlier this month.

“We’ve really stressed since the preseason games that our physicality, our quickness to the ball must improve, and so those are the things we’re focused on the most,” May said.

Houston won the first game in Macao 135-117 on Oct. 9 behind a triple-double from Alperen Şengün. Dallas won the second 132-115 two days later. Kyrie Irving sat out the first game, then scored 17 points in the second, his first game of any kind since March 2025. The Rockets held out Kevin Durant, Fred VanVleet, and Şengün in that second game.

Each team had different objectives in each of the two Macao games, May said.

“It just probably saves a little bit of time in film study as you familiarize yourself with their roster, with their rotations, with their sets and things like that,” May explained. “I don’t think either team was who they are in the exhibition season. We had different objectives each game. And obviously when Kyrie played, KD and Fred sat out. And so it’s two completely different teams.”

Dusty May’s Plan For Kevin Durant And The Houston Rockets

Durant averaged 26.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 4.8 assists last season, his first with the Rockets. He was named to the All-NBA Second Team. Houston went 52-30 and lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games in the first round.

In four games against Durant last season, Cooper Flagg averaged 18.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 4.0 assists.

May said Dallas has to stop fouling jump shooters when Durant has the ball.

“Just forcing him to take tough shots, obviously,” May said. “One of the greatest scorers to ever lace ’em up. [He’s] gonna score points, but we just gotta challenge his catches. We gotta make it tough on him. We gotta stop fouling jump shooters and just make him work for every basket.”

“And then on the other hand, we gotta make sure he exerts some energy on the defensive end as well,” May continued.

Recognizing matchups and actions is where Dallas’ attack against Houston’s switching defense gets decided, in May’s view.

“We have our concepts [on] how we wanna attack switching defense, and so it comes down to execution, to recognizing matchups, actions, and how do we confuse their switches with the way we do it,” May said. “So luckily we switched, so we’re probably more familiar than we would be otherwise. But they do it well, so it’s not simple.”

Houston signed Marcus Smart to a two-year, $13M deal on July 10, reuniting him with Rockets coach Ime Udoka. Smart won Defensive Player of the Year under Udoka with the Boston Celtics in 2021-22.

Amen Thompson and his twin brother, Ausar Thompson of the Detroit Pistons, attended Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. May has known them since Amen Thompson was in eighth grade.

“They have a good team. I’m very, very impressed with their roster, with their toughness, their physicality,” May said. “Amen Thompson, he was in eighth grade the first time I saw him in a high school team camp in South Florida, him and his brother. You see these guys, so you know what their DNA is.”

“And they’ve got Marcus Smart, that [I] can’t even tell you how many times I’ve showed guards in college teaching edits of the way he defends ball screens and the way he leads a team and the tenacity he plays, the physicality he plays with,” May added.

“I’m very impressed with their team, and obviously Şengün, man, he’s turned into one of the most versatile, skilled bigs in our game, and you could go [on and on], but they have a lot of really good players and they have a real identity,” May detailed.

Houston traded up to the 31st pick in June to draft Bruce Thornton, who left Ohio State as the program’s all-time leading scorer with 2,164 points.

“He’s a high-level shot maker, number one, and because of his physical stature, it’s tough to get into his body,” May said. “He’s able to create space. He was a really good floater shooter. He’s a really good mid-range shooter, and he’s just a guy who was steady and poised. He never got rattled, and we had some battles against those guys, so yeah, I’m also very familiar with him.”

May On His NBA Debut And Kyrie Irving’s Return

Wednesday is Irving’s first regular-season game since he tore the ACL in his left knee against the Sacramento Kings on March 3, 2025, a span of 597 days.

May has long respected the way Irving plays and how often he turns up on the AAU circuit working out with kids.

“The first time I saw him work out in Vegas, I was blown away at the imagination that he would do every single drill, every single rep,” May said. “He was never doing a drill. He was playing these scenarios in his mind, and his attention to detail. The way he worked, like I said, I think I compared him to a jazz musician and an artist.”

“I mean, this game means a lot. There’s a lot that comes with this game, and it seems like he really enjoys everything basketball,” May noted. “And I haven’t seen many with better attention to detail.”

May coached six seasons at Florida Atlantic, reaching the 2023 Final Four, and two at Michigan, where he went 64-13. He said he got nervous in his first year as a head coach and does not get terribly nervous anymore.

“Very similar, but more excited than anything else,” May said. “I think we all have redeemable qualities, and I don’t get terribly nervous. I probably did my first year as a head coach. Just grounded in process, that I feel like we’ve done most of our work up before this point, and how we plan, how we practice, how we compete every day.”

“For example, when you’re playing for it all, you’re just thinking this game has probably been decided in the months previously,” May continued. “And so you just lean on that and your preparation, and you do the best job you can for your guys and try to figure out any way to help. But just go out and do what you’ve done every other game, hopefully.”

Dallas signed Walter Clayton Jr. to a two-way contract Wednesday after the guard cleared waivers following his release by the Memphis Grizzlies. Clayton will wear No. 1.

The Mavericks ruled out Dereck Lively II (right foot surgery recovery), Santi Aldama (right knee surgery recovery), Tarik Biberović (right heel bursitis), and Caleb Martin (right thumb sprain). Jett Howard is questionable with right calf tightness. Houston listed Steven Adams as questionable with right calf tightness and Julian Phillips as questionable with an illness.

Dallas plays at the Indiana Pacers on Friday, then hosts the San Antonio Spurs in its home opener Saturday. Houston visits American Airlines Center on Oct. 30.