By the Numbers: Mavericks Lose to Cavaliers

The Dallas Mavericks dropped to 21-11 at home with a crushing 127-94 defeat at the hands of LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers Tuesday night.

The first quarter was actually closely contested and wildly entertaining. Cleveland jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the opening minutes, then Chandler Parsons went on a personal 8-0 run to get the Mavericks back into the game. The Cavs surged ahead again, but a 9-1 run by the Mavericks tied the game at 21.

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The energy from the Mavericks was great in the opening frame. A hard baseline cut from Dirk Nowitzki got him a three-point play, Amar’e Stoudemire bounced up to follow a missed jumper, and Al-Farouq Aminu was extremely active defensively and on the offensive glass before injuring his shoulder in a collision with J.R. Smith. And they scored two buckets in the final three seconds of the quarter after Ellis stole the inbounds and muscled in a shot at the horn.

Then everything went off a cliff. Here are some standout numbers from the loss:

12.6: The Mavericks led by five points after the first quarter, 31-26, but were outscored by an average of 12.6 points in each of the remaining quarters. Cleveland scored 41 points in the second quarter to Dallas’ 22.

3-10: Dirk Nowitzki was 3-10 from the field, scoring 13 points. There was a time when a performance such as this was just a blip on the radar for the big German. Now it’s becoming the norm. Nowitzki has shot less than 40% in Dallas’ last 10 games. He’s at 36% for March.

1: Only 1 Cavalier starter failed to score at least 20 points. LeBron had 27, Kyrie Irving had 22, Kevin Love scored 21, and J.R. Smith netted 21. Only Timofey Mozgov, a 9.5 ppg scorer this season, failed to reach 20 points. He had 17 on 5-10 shooting.

47%: Cleveland shot 47% from three-point range against the Mavericks. Dallas shot 40% from the field overall. The Cavs knocked down 15 of the 32 they attempted, with LeBron and Smith combining to go 9-14. Opponent three-point shooting was a huge problem for the Mavericks early on in the season, but the addition of Rondo helped at first. Things appear to be back to normal, now. Opponents have shot 37% from long range against the Mavericks since the All-Star break.

33: The 33-point margin of defeat was the largest of the season for the Mavericks. They’ve lost four in a row to teams currently in the playoff picture, the Hawks, Blazers, Warriors, and Cavs, by an average of over 22 points.

Things don’t get any easier for the Mavericks in the coming days. They face the Clippers on Friday, and have the Thunder, Grizzlies, and Suns next week. The once promising season is slipping away from the Mavericks. If they don’t get on track they’re in danger of missing the postseason all together. Dallas is just 1.5 games ahead of the eighth-place Thunder and 4.5 games ahead of the surging New Orleans Pelicans, winners of 8 of their last 10.

Next: Mavericks In Make or Break Stretch Run

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