Damian Lillard, Blazers Keep Dallas Mavericks Winless

With Andrew Bogut a late scratch, Dallas remains winless after a loss at home to Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers.

Coming into the night, the Dallas Mavericks were a whopping 0-4 on the season and nothing much changed as Dallas lost again at home to a young Portland team.

With news coming out before tip-off that Andrew Bogut would be missing the game due to personal reasons, Rick Carlisle inserted J.J. Barea into the starting lineup as the Mavs went small. With Wesley Matthews taking on the task of guarding Damian Lillard, Nowitzki moved to center to guard Mason Plumlee.

The first quarter started off on a rough note as Portland took an early 6-0 lead that looked to set the tone for another depressing night for the Mavs. With around six minutes left in the game, Carlisle subbed in Seth Curry and Dwight Powell for a lineup that could run with Portland. Behind seven points for Barea, Dallas tied the game at 26 heading into the second quarter.

In the second quarter it was J.J. Barea and Dirk Nowitzki that continued the Mavs run as they went up by seven at one point. But with the Mavs known issues of defending the outside shot, Portland took back the lead with their outside shooting. With Damian Lillard putting in 15 points, Portland took the lead into halftime up 55-52.

Dirk Nowitzki came out of the tunnel at halftime but immediately went back in as he was ruled out for the rest of the game with soreness in his Achilles. With no Dirk or Bogut, Portland took advantage as it turned into the Damian Lillard show in Dallas. Portland went 3-14 from behind the arc in the first half, but went 7-8 from behind the arc in the first eight minutes of the third quarter. After a late, crowd surging run by the bench unit, Dallas cut the lead to three going into the fourth.

In the fourth, it was a second unit of Barea, Curry, Anderson, Acy and Mejri that had the crowd on their feet. Cutting the game to one point, Dallas could never overcome the lead as Lillard keep control of the game.

Damian Lillard finished the game with 42 points on 12-18 shooting along with 4 rebounds and 4 assists. The team shot 45% from the field and 38.7% from the 3-point line.

For Dallas, it was J.J. Barea that led the way with 23 points and 6 assists. The Mavs outrebounded the Blazers 44 to 42 thanks to Harrison Barnes pulling down 10 boards.

Next: Terry Stotts Talks Dirk, Matthews & More

Dallas drops to 0-5 on the season and nearing a territory that will bring up the idea of tanking to many fans. They have a shot to redeem themselves at home on Sunday against a young Bucks team and Jason Kidd.