Jason Kidd's brutal benching of Mavericks youngster must end now

The Dallas Mavericks lost yet another game in heart-throbbing fashion, as they fell to the Denver Nuggets by a score of 122-120 on Sunday night, which gives Dallas a 5-5 record in the early season. Kyrie Irving was carrying the Mavericks offensively in this contest, as Irving finished with 43 points on an absurdly efficient 17-22 shooting line. Irving was making difficult shots from every which way in this contest, and it kept the Mavericks connected until a series of bad offensive possessions by Irving and Luka Doncic held Dallas scoreless in the last 1:39 of the game.

Irving and Doncic took some highly contested and difficult 3-pointers down the stretch of this game, and while they are certainly capable of making those shots, those attempts can’t be repeated multiple times in a row when they aren’t going in late in a close game like this.

That certainly wasn’t the only reason Dallas lost this game though, as the Mavericks could’ve done a far better job at closing out on Denver’s role players on open 3-point attempts throughout the contest. The Mavericks were out-rebounded and got off to a slow start once again in this game as well, as the Mavericks continue to suffer from issues that have plagued them all season long.

The Mavericks also didn’t get the offensive production off the bench that they need to win against a team of Denver's caliber, proving that the loss of P.J. Washington and Dereck Lively II due to injury is hindering Dallas’ rotation far more than they’d hope for. This lack of production was especially true for Jaden Hardy in this game, even though Hardy started the game off with a strong slam on a baseline drive. Those were Hardy’s only points of the evening though, as he only finished 1-7 from the field in this game.

Mavericks aren't utilizing Quentin Grimes enough

Hardy’s blunder in this contest came in tandem with head coach Jason Kidd electing to bench Quentin Grimes, which was a surprising decision considering Grimes has played in all of Dallas’ games up to this point in the season.

Grimes by no means has had the start to the year that fans have hoped for out of him, but he’s objectively a better defender than Hardy, and Dallas could’ve used his perimeter defense in a game like this.

Grimes is only averaging 3.3 points and 2.1 rebounds per game this season in only 12 minutes per contest, and while there’s an argument to be made that he needs to be more assertive on offense, he hasn’t got as extensive of an opportunity to shine off the bench as others in Dallas’ rotation have. 

It’s on Kidd and Dallas’ coaching staff to get Grimes more looks as well though, as there are junctures where he’ll play and will barely even get the ball. Kidd recently cited Grimes not shooting well from outside and his lackluster defense as to why he's been getting such little playing time, though it seems like Kidd is overemphasizing how bad Grimes is really playing.

Grimes is a capable scorer off the bounce and a good catch-and-shoot 3-point shooter, and not playing him whatsoever in a game like this was a puzzling decision by Kidd. It’s not like Grimes would’ve severely changed the tide of this game, but in a close contest like this, you never know how much impact he could’ve made compared to the little impact Hardy had.

Grimes is someone who could turn into a great rotation player for Dallas moving forward if given the chance, and time will tell if Kidd will look to get him involved moving forward.