Mavericks' loss to Pacers uncovers kryptonite that's haunted them for years

On Monday, the Dallas Mavericks faced off against the Indiana Pacers in a late-night affair. Dallas was coming off the second night of a back-to-back after comfortably defeating the Orlando Magic on Sunday.

Despite struggling to open the season, the Pacers are still very dangerous when they catch heat on the offensive end. Against the Mavericks, Indiana's offensive struggles became a thing of the past as they won 134-127 while shooting 40 percent from behind the arc as a team.

With Indiana getting hot early on Monday night, the Mavericks knew they had to score the basketball to stay hip-to-hip with the Pacers. Despite the Mavericks' loss, Naji Marshall looked promising on the offensive end as he finally nailed his first few threes as a Mav.

Indiana guards Tyrese Haliburton and Bennedict Mathurin torched the Mavericks at all three levels of the floor. Mathurin constantly made tough shots in the fourth quarter, which made it difficult for the Mavericks to mount a full comeback and hold a stable lead.

Mavericks' inability to defend stretch bigs haunts them once again

In the past, Indiana has torched the Mavericks with their run-and-gun-styled offense and it was no different last night. The Pacers got off to a hot start from behind the 3-point line, and it was in large part due to Pacers big man Myles Turner's ability to spread the floor.

Historically, the Mavericks have struggled to defend any team that features a center who can spread the floor like Turner does. One major reason Dallas lost in the NBA Finals last year was that Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis is an elite deep threat who punished the Mavericks anytime a defender failed to step up from the perimeter. Even though he missed multiple games in that series, Dallas' inability to slow down him and Al Horford was painful.

While last night's loss wasn't in the Finals, it still has heavy implications on the Mavericks' ability to defend stretch bigs.

Turner lit up the scoreboard in Dallas with an impressive 30-point showing as he shot a near 63 percent from behind the arc. What's concerning is that the Mavericks failed to try and defend Turner's lethal outside shot.

At times the Mavericks would stick P.J. Washington on Turner but this just created even worse problems in the paint when Pacer guards would make 45 cuts from the wing for wide-open looks at the basket.

Losing Dereck Lively II to a sprained shoulder right before tip-off also didn't help Dallas' case on the defensive end. The absence of Lively II proved to be costly when Daniel Gafford got into early foul trouble.

While Lively II still isn't the elite perimeter big man defender Dallas needed to win this game, his presence would have been a welcomed sight to see with Turner scorching the team from deep. He defends better on the perimeter than Gafford does, and maybe he could have altered some of Turner's open shots from downtown.

It's unclear if the Mavericks need to make a change in the back half of their roster for a more athletic big who can defend the perimeter but it may be a conversation worth having in the Mavericks front office.

Turner's impressive showing on Monday night could be an early indicator of one of the Mavericks' main weaknesses this season, and their struggles to defend bigs who can shoot are still obvious.