Dallas Mavericks: 3 takeaways from the Mavs loss to Charlotte

With the final Dallas Mavericks preseason game against the Charlotte Hornets finished, The Smoking Cuban looks over the takeaways from the loss.

Let’s just start off by saying that the Dallas Mavericks played amazingly on Friday evening against the Charlotte Hornets. Fans were all expecting it to come as a win especially considering how close it was, but in the last few minutes of the game, Dallas just couldn’t keep hold of it.

The final score was a 123-118 victory for the Hornets. Charlotte edged out the final preseason game win.

Hornets facts

Hornets guard Kemba Walker was extremely efficient, putting up 13 points in just 17 minutes of action while shooting 66.7 percent.

Second round pick Devonte Graham also did marvelous, with 15 points and four assists while coming off the bench.

Towards the end of the second half, Charlotte mostly gave their minutes to third string players and their two-way contract guys.

As a team, the Hornets managed to shoot 57.6 percent from outside the arc, but also cause 23 turnovers.

As for Dallas, they fared well. As a team, they managed to get 42 rebounds and twelve of those were offensive boards. Let’s see who stood out the most for the Mavericks.

Luka Doncic: The everything rookie

Doncic on his own did incredibly. He managed to have a game-high 18 points, as well as four assists and three steals. He did, however, attempted a ton of threes, ten to be exact. Only four of them went inside the basket, but I think Doncic still seems to be improving drastically.

The third pick of the draft also seemed to get the hang of his passing. Last night’s game saw him only drop one turnover. It looks like Doncic has some beautiful no-look passes, including this highlight to Wesley Matthews for three.

It might just be that the Mavericks are going to have the amazing duo with Doncic and Dennis Smith Jr. Friday’s action saw the pair drop 34 points, six rebounds, and seven assists. The youngsters may want to work on their shooting, as they attempted 28 shots and only managed to make 11 from the field. It might take some time, but they seem like a fun duo to watch.

Oh yeah, and if you have any doubt in these 19 and 20-year olds, just remember to watch this.

DeAndre Jordan: The new and improved

Shooting. That is all that has to be said. The Dallas Mavericks must’ve done something to DeAndre Jordan because now he improved his shooting. Last night, with thirty minutes of action, Jordan managed to get 18 points, 12 rebounds, and one block with what was a standout preseason game.

What should surprise fans is Jordan’s shooting percentages. He went 100 percent from the field on six attempts. That’s not all.

At the charity stripe, DJ attempted six free throws and made all of them. For a big man who had a career-best last year of around 50 percent, this is where many Dallas fans would be wowed at how much better Jordan got. It seems to be that the 30-year old has a lot in him, especially with him improving shooting from outside of the paint. The regular season will be really interesting to see with him in a Mavs uniform.

Give Spalding more time

When Ray Spalding only got to play in the fourth quarter, he made the best of it. With just six minutes of action, the 56th overall pick in this year’s draft managed to get six points and a steal while shooting 75 percent from the field.

Now it may not sound as impressive, but imagine if the rookie gets more playing time. He has had only a preseason-best seven points, but it is also because he is only receiving limited playing time.

I see poise for him this season. It may be that he plays well and becomes more of a bench player with around 15-20 minutes of action. That makes players like Salah Mejri and Maxi Kleber expendable. Their time in Dallas may come to an end if Spalding can prove himself worthy.

Next Game

With the Hornets-Mavs game over, that marks the end of the 2018 preseason.

The official NBA regular season starts on October 16th while the Dallas Mavericks debut at the Suns on October 17th on ESPN. Stay tuned!