DALLAS — Last January, the Mavericks won seven of their last ten games and went 12-4 for the month, catapulting themselves to a strong regular-season finish and, ultimately, the Western Conference finals.
Monday night in American Airlines Center, the Mavericks Dallas concluded January play with a tougher-than-necessary 111-105 victory over 13-win Detroit, but that isn’t to say they finished the month on an upswing.
The Mavericks (27-25) went 6-9 in January, their worst month since their 3-12 showing in March of 2018-19, Luka Doncic’s rookie season.
Doncic on Monday poured in 53 points in his return from a one-game absence (left ankle sprain). It was his fourth 50-point game of the season and fifth of his career, but once again he shouldered too much of the offensive load. He scored 18 of Dallas’ first 20 points and 24 of his team’s 30 first-quarter points.
Help was slow to arrive. Spencer Dinwiddie missed his first six shots and didn’t make a field goal until two minutes into the fourth quarter. Tim Hardaway Jr. missed seven of his first 10 attempts, including five of six 3-pointers.
It largely was left to Doncic to try to rally from a 74-63 mid-third-quarter deficit, a hole that was all the more unfathomable given that Dallas scored the night’s first 10 points. Doncic scored 18 of his team’s 30 fourth-quarter points as the Mavericks pulled within 84-83.
Despite the added electricity in AAC from the annual Seats for Soldiers night, with 100 service men and women flown in from San Antonio’s Brook Army Medical Center by American Airlines, the Mavericks for long stretches appeared disjointed.
Or distracted, perhaps. With the Feb. 9 trade deadline looming and Dallas failing to gain any semblance of traction in the wide-open Western Conference, roster changes seem likely, if not imperative. It would hardly be the first time trade speculation has cast a pall over an NBA team.
“That’s just the nature of this business this time of the year,” coach Jason Kidd said. “Everyone’s name tends to be floated. Is there any truth to it? A lot of them don’t have any truth, but there are some that do.”
Kidd said that the Mavericks coaching staff and general manager Nico Harrison addressed the possibility of trade speculation back in early January, around the time that Dallas’ season-best seven-game winning streak culminated with a Jan. 2 win at Houston.
“We talked about it . . . when names started to float about who could be traded, or ‘someone likes someone,’ Kidd said. “Just to be honest: That if there’s any questions, just come see Nico or myself if you have any concerns of what’s going on.”
There is ample reason for concern. Granted, second-leading scorer Christian Wood has missed the last six games with a left thumb fracture, but Dallas’ uneven play predates his injury.
The Mavericks’ slew of puzzling losses this season include a home loss to West cellar-dweller Houston (without Doncic) and a 131-125 overtime defeat to these same Pistons (with Doncic) back on Dec. 1.
On Monday night it was clear that Dallas didn’t learn much from that earlier defeat, despite Kidd’s pregame warning that coach Dwane Casey has the Pistons playing hard and scoring a lot of points.
Last year, January catapulted the Mavericks to bigger and better things. Now? They enter February seemingly stuck in the muck of their own inconsistency.
