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CLEVELAND — Dallas Mavericks coach Dusty May said Saturday night that his team did not match the Cleveland Cavaliers’ desire and determination to compete in a 127-117 loss at Rocket Arena. Kyrie Irving and Caleb Martin both said he was right.
Cleveland played without Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, James Harden, and Jarrett Allen, one night after losing 133-121 at Miami. The Cavaliers closed the first half on a 28-9 run, led 71-53 at halftime, and pushed the lead to 22 early in the fourth quarter.
The loss was Dallas’ second straight after Thursday’s 133-94 defeat at Minnesota and dropped the Mavericks to 7-6. May began his postgame news conference with the second quarter, when Cleveland’s shot making built the lead.
“Disappointing road performance by us as a group,” May said. “We didn’t match their desire and determination to compete, and everyone in our travel party needs to be better. But hats off to Cleveland. Those guys got off a plane, and they were ready to compete at a high level.”
“And they threw the first punch, and then the second quarter, the shot making was impressive, and they were able to build a lead, and we were playing from behind the rest of the game,” May continued.
Coming off the Minnesota loss, May gave a one-sentence answer on whether Dallas brought the right urgency into the first half.
“We definitely didn’t play with the right level of urgency,” May explained.
Kyrie Irving Says Dallas Has No Margin For Error
Irving scored 34 points on 11-of-25 shooting, including 7-of-16 from three. He had 6 points on 1-of-7 shooting at halftime, then scored 20 in the third quarter as Dallas cut a 21-point deficit to nine.
May’s message reached Irving in the first question of his postgame availability. Irving said the Mavericks have not come close to matching the physicality of their opponents over their last few games.
“When your head coach is calling it out, that’s got to do something to you, just in terms of how you handle it and how you respond,” Irving said. “But he’s absolutely right. I think these last few games, we haven’t even been close to matching physicality of the teams coming in against us and against the best league in the world, against the best players in the world, and your margin for error is very small.”
“So we just don’t have time to feel our way through the game and not do the little things that we speak on in preparation, or when we’re in preparation, or in just practice, and just need better carryover,” Irving continued. “So he’s absolutely right, and that’s holding us accountable to the highest level when we got to respond.”
Dallas went 0-of-6 from three and committed 5 turnovers in the second quarter. Cleveland made 14 of 24 shots and all 8 of its free throws in the period and outscored the Mavericks 38-20.
Caleb Martin Says Dallas Came Out Flat
Martin was one of the few Mavericks who produced early. He scored 9 points on 4-of-4 shooting in the first quarter and had 11 on 5-of-5 by halftime, and he finished with 15 points and 8 rebounds.
In Martin’s view, the urgency gap started with the defensive tone Dallas set at the opening tip.
“Like we just didn’t have any,” Martin said. “Honestly, we just came out flat, and I think all the way down the line, including myself, we came out flat. It impacted the game from the jump and set the tone defensively and kind of let the offense kind of dictate what we were doing for the rest of the game, and yeah, we just didn’t come out and give our best version of that.”
Dallas played the second half without a turnover and outscored Cleveland 64-56 over the final two quarters. The Mavericks got no closer than nine. Martin said the result was deserved.
“We didn’t earn that one for sure,” Martin explained.
Dallas plays the Boston Celtics on Sunday at TD Garden, the second night of a back-to-back. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. CT.
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