The Mavericks Look to Enter Win Column Tonight Against the Kings

The Dallas Mavericks started the season in ugly fashion, losing to an Atlanta Hawks team that is expected to struggle this year. Dallas gets a chance to right their ship tonight against another struggling team in the Sacramento Kings.

Dallas did not look good in game 1. Sure there were flashes of brilliance from a number of different players, but there should also be a lot of concerns. Dallas ended up losing the first game 117-111, thanks in large part to the pick-and-roll offense that the Hawks used to perfection against us. That will need to be fixed before tonight.

Dallas will be coming in with a mostly healthy team once again, still missing only Seth Curry and Josh McRoberts. This has led to a lot of minutes for players like Yogi Ferrell and Dwight Powell, who should benefit once again tonight.

After the less-than-stellar clock and game management from game one, expect Coach Carlisle to take a different approach in both rotations and crunch time lineups tonight, if needed. He definitely caught a lot of flak for having Dwight Powell in during the most important minutes of the fourth quarter, and I don’t imagine that will be happening again.

A couple bright spots from the first game include the two players that everyone wanted to see together. Both Dennis Smith Jr. and Nerlens Noel played great and will presumably be rewarded with more minutes tonight because of it. Dwight Powell didn’t play too badly so I don’t think he will lose a lot of minutes, but crunch time will belong to either Dirk or Noel.

TARRYTOWN, NY – AUGUST 11: Malik Monko, DeAaron Fox and Dennis Smith Jr. of the Sacramento Kings behind the scenes during the 2017 NBA Rookie Photo Shoot at MSG training center on August 11, 2017 in Tarrytown, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Michelle Farsi/Getty Images)

The biggest black eye to the team’s first game should be rewarded to Harrison Barnes. Barnes, a player the Mavs are relying on to be a first option on offense and a major contributor on defense showed neither of those things in his first performance of the season. I do not expect that to be the norm, but rather an outlier.

One thing to watch for tonight will be the rookie matchup between De’Aaron Fox and Dennis Smith Jr. I was one of many who had Fox very highly rated in the NBA Draft this past summer and he has already shown his value in the Kings first game as well. Both rookies should be pretty fun to watch tonight.

Next: Rick Carlisle Takes Blame for Poor Effort From Mavs

The Dallas Mavericks and Sacramento Kings tipoff tonight at 7:30 central time. For live tweets follow @TheSmokingCuban where we will be keeping everyone updated on the happenings of the game. Let’s get a win tonight, Dallas.

The Dallas Mavericks started the season in ugly fashion, losing to an Atlanta Hawks team that is expected to struggle this year. Dallas gets a chance to right their ship tonight against another struggling team in the Sacramento Kings.

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