Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd was not happy with what he saw on the floor Friday night in the 114–113 loss to the Phoenix Suns at American Airlines Center.
The Mavericks fell behind Kevin Durant and the Suns early and trailed by 10 points after the first quarter. Dallas chipped away at the deficit and even led by six points midway through the fourth, but Phoenix center Jusuf Nurkic was fouled in the final second and nailed one of two free-throw attempts to secure the Suns' win.
"For whatever reason, we get off to a slow start," Kidd said after the game. "It's got to be addressed. We've talked about it; there's got to be action. Somebody's got to come with some f---ing energy. We're f---ing flat. That's where it starts."
The Mavericks' stars came to play, as Luka Doncic dropped 30 points on 11-of-25 shooting in 42 minutes and Kyrie Irving added 29 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three steals in 41 minutes. But Dallas's bench was outscored 28–9 in the loss.
Through nine games, the Mavericks' bench is scoring just 25.1 points per game, which ranks 26th in the NBA.
"The fatigue of running Luka and Kyrie 40-something minutes because our bench stinks right now. As deep as we are, we gotta get someone to f---ing participate off the bench," Kidd said. "Somebody has to join the party to help Kyrie and Luka. That's just not happening right now."
"It's a team—it's not just Luka and Kyrie and Klay. Played the whole f---ing team tonight and we couldn't find anybody. So we had to leave those two to carry the load, and that's unfair to those two this early in the season."
Jason Kidd on his team tonight:
— Noah Weber (@noahweber00) November 9, 2024
“For whatever reason, we’re getting off to a slow start, it’s gotta be addressed…Somebody’s gotta come with some f***ing energy. We’re f***ing flat…Our bench stinks right now…As deep as we are, we got to get someone to f***ing participate off… pic.twitter.com/5xAdgegCN4
Dallas will try to avoid slipping back to .500 when it begins a three-game road trip Sunday against the Denver Nuggets.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Jason Kidd Eviscerates Mavericks' Effort in Loss to Suns: 'Our Bench Stinks'.
