NBA News NBA News, Match Reports and Updates 
The Dallas Mavericks (1-2) spent most of Wednesday night’s preseason game against the New Orleans Pelicans (2-1) playing from behind. While the deep reserves eventually made the final few minutes interesting, Dallas could never completely erase an ugly offensive start in a 101-97 preseason loss to the Pelicans.
With Cooper Flagg, Kyrie Irving and several other rotation pieces sitting, Dallas opened with Naji Marshall handling much of the creation alongside Max Christie, Zaccharie Risacher, P.J. Washington and Moussa Cisse. The offense looked disjointed almost immediately. Washington turned the ball over twice in the first two minutes, Risacher missed an early three, and the Mavericks struggled to generate anything consistently in the half-court. Mar Hall gave them some life with seven first-quarter points, including a pull-up three and a late floater, but New Orleans still built a 26-18 lead after one.
Advertisement
Dallas actually played some of its best basketball in the middle of the second quarter. John Poulakidas hit back-to-back 3-pointers, Seth Lundy knocked down another, and Sergio de Larrea created easy looks for the bigs. Cisse scored twice at the rim, including a cutting dunk off a de Larrea assist that brought Dallas within three at 47-44. Instead of carrying that momentum into halftime, the Mavericks completely lost it over the final two minutes. New Orleans closed with a 9-1 run, capped by Bennedict Mathurin scoring through contact with one second remaining, and Dallas suddenly fell behind 56-45 at the break.
The third quarter never really produced the run Dallas needed. Tobi Lawal repeatedly found openings as a cutter, and Risacher finally got on the board with a pair of layups. Still, the Mavericks kept throwing away possessions and missing open threes as New Orleans pushed the lead back into double digits behind Jeremiah Fears, Zion Williamson, and Yves Missi, taking a 75-63 lead into the fourth. Most of the rotation players were done by then, but the end-of-bench group gave Dallas one final push. Law l continued attacking the rim, Poulakidas made shots, and Lundy got aggressive late, cutting a…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/4-things-mavericks-comeback-falls-031800336.html
Author :
Publish date : 2026-10-15 03:18:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
