‘Don’t Give Them Anything Easy’: Dallas Mavericks Want Early Pressure On Michael Porter Jr., Brooklyn Nets Shooters

DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks want to make Michael Porter Jr. work for every touch from the opening tip Sunday night, and Mavericks coach Dusty May said the goal is to keep Brooklyn’s shooters from seeing the ball go in during the first few minutes. May spoke before the Brooklyn Nets visited American Airlines Center for a 6:30 p.m. CT tip-off.

Victor Wembanyama scored 15 of his career-high 52 points in the first quarter of the San Antonio Spurs’ 112-111 win over Dallas on Nov. 4. The Mavericks have trailed after the first quarter in six of their nine games.

“We have to do a better job early in games than we’ve done on Wemby, for example. We made some errors, and he got in a rhythm and got going,” May said. “So I think, and even dating back to our first game in Macao, Fred VanVleet. We gave up an offensive rebound. He gets his three, and it was five or six minutes into the game, and we’d done well on him up to that point.”

“But just shooters seeing one go in, so just challenge all their touches, push them off their spots, and show them crowds, and don’t give them anything easy,” May continued. “Don’t let them see the ball go in the basket in the first couple minutes, and that will help our chances.”

Michael Porter Jr. And The Brooklyn Nets’ Shooters

Porter has started all nine games for Brooklyn and is averaging 21.8 points and 7.6 rebounds in 33.6 minutes while shooting 46.4% from the field and 37.3% from three-point range on 9.2 attempts per game. Julius Randle is averaging 20.8 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 5.1 assists, and second-year guard Nolan Traoré is shooting 48.5% from three.

As a team, the Nets are making 14.1 threes per game on 35.1% shooting. Porter led all scorers with 26 points on 9-of-16 shooting, 2-of-6 from three, in the last meeting between the teams, a 123-114 Dallas win at Barclays Center on Feb. 24.

The Nets come in at 2-7, one night after a 124-121 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. Fred VanVleet faced Dallas again in the Oct. 21 regular-season opener and had 11 assists in the Houston Rockets’ 128-110 win.

How The Dallas Mavericks Have Started Games

In Indianapolis on Oct. 23, a 22-6 first-quarter run put Dallas up 44-27 on the Indiana Pacers after one, and the Mavericks won 121-105. They also led after the first quarter against the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston and won both games, but they are 2-4 in the six they trailed at that point.

Teams are 102-of-330 from three-point range against the Mavericks, a 30.9% mark. San Antonio missed 31 of its 36 attempts from deep in its 112-111 win on Nov. 4, when Wembanyama scored 52 on 16-of-28 shooting and 19-of-23 at the line with 24 rebounds and 8 blocks.

At the other end, Max Christie is shooting 26.3% from three-point range through eight games. Transition defense is one of the categories May said Dallas has stressed more than others.

“It’s so early, and that’s another thing with the stats,” May explained. “The sample size is so small. I’ve seen we’ve been number four in this category one day, and then two games later we’re like 17. And so there are a couple categories that we’ve stressed more than others. The transition defense is one. Some of them are just kind of byproducts of individual talent, or a team hasn’t made shots, or things like that. But right now, it’s probably too early for us to look at. And even with our shooters, I don’t even like looking at our three-point percentages right now.”

“Early in the season, I don’t put a lot of stock in the, especially the percentages,” May added, “because you look at Max over the course of his career, I think he’s a 40% three-point shooter, and I know based on eye test he’s not shooting anywhere near that now. But early in the season, I think all these stats are, it’s a little bit too early to have any conclusions on why, other than maybe you’ve spent a lot of time on something or you haven’t spent any time on another, and you’re not doing well at it.”

Dallas ruled out Dereck Lively II (right foot surgery), Tarik Biberović (heel bursitis), and Sergio De Larrea (right knee sprain) for Sunday. After the Nets, the Mavericks finish their back-to-back Monday at 7 p.m. CT against Indiana.