Dallas Mavericks lose to Bucks, fall to 0-3 in meaningless games

The Dallas Mavericks have lost another preseason game and all the fans who firmly believe that these are important preparation games for the season are absolutely devastated.

The Dallas Mavericks finally travelled home for the first time this preseason to take on the Milwaukee Bucks. The matchup featured the reigning MVP playing against the reigning Rookie of the Year. As the game progressed, it became clear that this was most certainly all about the matchup between Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Doncic.

Dallas started kind of slow but made up for it, cutting the deficit to only 6 at halftime. The third quarter did not go well as the Mavs fell to 99-84. It wasn’t close for a large part of the fourth, but the Mavs end of bench guys fought hard and got within 2 points in the final minutes. They came close, but eventually fell 118-111.

The Greek Freak scored an impressive 34 points in only 23 minutes, shooting 65% from the field, 75% from three and 100% from the free throw line. He also grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out 4 assists.

Luka, on the other hand, put up 27 points in 23 minutes, shooting 46% from the field, 63% from three and he had a solid night from the charity stripe, going 10-11. He also grabbed 7 rebounds and dished out 2 assists.

Luka’s new scoring mate this year is Kristaps Porzingis, who looked great in his first game back, but the rust was definitely present tonight. He shot only 4-13 for 11 points and went 2-9 from three. He had a few highlights there, but it looks like there is still some work to be done before he is fully comfortable back on the court in the biggest of situations.

Dallas did get a great game from Boban Marjanovic tonight who had 16 points and 8 rebounds. Other Mavs in double-digits included Justin Jackson with 13 (including 50% from three), Jalen Brunson with 12 and Tim Hardaway Jr. with 10.

The Bucks, meanwhile, had a few bench players make it into double-digits, including Ersan Ilyasova with 18, Dragan Bender with 17 and Donte DiVincenzo with 14. Milwaukee was without Eric Bledsoe, D.J. Wilson and Brook Lopez for the night.

The Mavericks will look to put something in the win column on Monday, October 14, just a little over a week before the regular season starts. The Mavs will once again play the Oklahoma City Thunder, this time in the American Airlines Center. It is unclear who will be active and inactive for the game at this point.