In this article
DALLAS — A day after the Dallas Mavericks lost 133-94 to the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center, forward Santi Aldama said the score bothered him less than the way Dallas lost.
Aldama spoke Friday morning on 105.3 The Fan’s K&C Masterpiece as the Mavericks prepared to fly to Cleveland. Mavericks coach Dusty May said after Thursday’s game that the loss was one to flush emotionally, and Aldama said even that part has been hard to do.
“I think it’s tough to flush,” Aldama said. “You try to flush it emotionally, like Coach said, but even that is tough because when you lose like this, it’s not about losing or about how much you lose, but more the way you lose. I think we lost without being true to our identity and the way we play. We don’t recognize ourselves, so I think that’s what’s tough about it. But we just got to use it to learn. I mean, you can’t have a loss like this and not learn.”
“So for us, it’s how do we avoid this and how do we compete in days where shots are not falling or things are not going our way or whatever the case may be,” Aldama continued. “And that’s what we’re focused on right now.”
Thursday’s loss ended Dallas’ three-game winning streak and dropped the Mavericks to 7-5. Dallas shot 37.2% from the field, went 13-of-48 from 3-point range, and finished below 100 points for the first time this season.
Santi Aldama Describes Mavericks Identity After Loss In Minneapolis
Twelve games into the season, Aldama said the Mavericks did not come back together as a unit Thursday the way they had in earlier games.
“We’re gritty. We’re together. We all go as one. We play hard. We communicate,” Aldama explained. “And I think as the game went on and we struggled, we’re kind of just letting the game affect us. And we just got to do what we agree on doing. We got to do what we practice. And I feel like we got emotional.”
Minnesota opened the third quarter on a 10-1 run to go ahead 77-53. The Timberwolves’ lead reached 44 points at 129-85 in the fourth quarter.
Aldama Says Mavericks Must Regroup On The Go Before Cleveland
The answer has to come from the group, according to Aldama, who called Thursday a rare night when the Mavericks were not as connected as they normally are.
“We’re a great team, great, great group of guys, obviously great basketball players, great coaching staff, and we just got to regroup,” Aldama said. “When adversity hits, we got to regroup. And it’s easy to do it after the game when you watch the film and understand, but we got to be able to do it on the go.”
“And again, we’ve done it in the past, but what Minnesota did yesterday, it was more than that, and we weren’t able to do it,” Aldama detailed. “But like I said, what we got to gain from this game is learning how to do it so it doesn’t happen again.”
Dallas plays the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday at Rocket Arena, with tip-off set for 6:30 p.m. CT.
More from this game
Mavericks vs. Timberwolves · Nov 12
Watch: Dusty May, Naji Marshall and Zaccharie Risacher postgame
All interviews & game coverage →
Follow the Mavericks all season. Choose your newsletters →
Join the conversation