Why Dallas Mavericks fans should not panic after WCF Game 1 loss to Warriors

The Dallas Mavericks had a night to forget on May 18 as the Golden State Warriors picked up a 112-87 win in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. Little went right for Dallas as they fell behind early and never got back into the game.

Luka Doncic had his worst game of this postseason as he finished with 20 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and one steal on six of 18 shooting. The Mavs were outscored by 30 points in Doncic’s 35 minutes on the floor.

As bad as things were on Wednesday night, the Warriors are only up 1-0, and there are plenty of reasons for optimism for Mavericks fans heading into Game 2. It was a burn the tape type game for Dallas, and they will play better moving forward.

Why Dallas Mavericks fans should not panic after Western Conference Finals Game 1 loss to Warriors

Dallas had their lowest-scoring night of the postseason as they shot just 31 of 86 or 36.0 percent from the field in Game 1. The Mavs were 11 of 48 or 22.9 percent from 3-point range in the blowout loss.

They got plenty of open looks, but the shot just did not fall at the Chase Center. Dallas went eight of 28 on wide-open 3-pointers per NBA Stats and three of 16 on open looks. They took 44 threes with the defender at least four feet away in Game 1 but made just 11.

Golden State made six of 12 wide-open threes. Holding the Dubs to 12 attempts was a win for Dallas, but they did not make their shots on the other end to stay in the game.

There are adjustments to be made as the Mavericks need to attack the paint more in Game 2, but they are not going to shoot that bad all series. On the other end of the floor, the Warriors had some shot-making luck.