Dallas Mavericks: Third Quarters A Glaring Issue
Friendly advice to the other 29 teams in the NBA: If you fall behind double digits at halftime against the Dallas Mavericks, you’ll make it a close contest within a few minutes of the third quarter.
Through four games this season, the Mavericks have proven to be one of the more entertaining teams in the league. They have, statistically, the best offense in the league, averaging 111.7 points per game.
They also have this video, which is the greatest thing going on in the social media world today.
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But they’re also entertaining at giving up large leads in the third quarter. It’s been a constant theme for the last few years, and through four games of the 2014-15 NBA season, the third quarter rears its ugly head once again.
All you need to do is look at Monday night against the Boston Celtics. Dallas built a lead as big as 31 points, and once again, looked to be in command.
In the blink of an eye, the Mavs’ lead dwindled to as little as 10 in the third quarter. The Celtics outscored Dallas 38-24 in the third quarter, and that once-30-point lead was only 12 heading into the fourth quarter.
Fortunately for the Mavs, they figured out how to play competent basketball towards the end and beat the Celtics 118-113 on Monday. All because Chandler Parsons scored a team-high 29 points, and Dirk Nowitzki had 27 points on only 9-of-14 shooting.
The third quarter is one of the reasons why the Mavericks are not undefeated right now. The Mavs were in control against the San Antonio Spurs, and had an eight-point halftime lead. Against the Utah Jazz, Dallas had a 25-point lead at the half. The Mavs even had a 14-point lead against the New Orleans Pelicans after 24 minutes.
The Mavericks even had a 26-point lead against Boston on Monday. TWENTY-SIX POINTS.
The third quarter results of these first four games:
- Spurs outscored Dallas 31-20
- Jazz outscored Dallas 29-24
- Pelicans outscored Dallas 37-20
- Celtics outscored Dallas 38-24.
That’s insane for a team that’s supposed to be at the top of the league in just about everything it does. But these third quarters are a problem. No lead is safe with the Mavericks. No lead was safe last year. Even if Dallas would hold a double-digit lead going into the fourth quarter, the Mavericks would find some way to make it interesting.
What’s more baffling about these third quarter lulls, is that Dallas’ offense stays in the locker room with the defense. Dallas shot 63 percent from the floor in the first half against Boston, but somehow managed to only put up 24 points in the third quarter after scoring 67 points in the first half.
It’s not like Dallas is doing anything different defensively, either. Avery “Black Mamba” Bradley took over in the second half and couldn’t miss a single shot. Jeff Green dominated with 35 points and seven rebounds. But in the second half, Dallas shot 44 percent from the floor.
There’s really no analysis when it comes to something like this. The best way to analyze what Dallas isn’t doing in third quarters is complacency. Especially against teams the Mavs know they’re better than (like the Pelicans and the Celtics), Dallas shouldn’t be allowing guys like Bradley or Tyreke Evans to take over a game.
And it would help Dallas to not give up 25 second-chance points to the Celtics on its home floor.
I noted last week that it’s not right to nitpick little things that could be a telling factor in a season. But these third quarters have been about as alarming as alarming can get. Dallas should be dominating these lower-tier teams, but that’s why they play 82 games in a season. The Mavs have 78 left to improve this atrocity.
Dallas can dominate in the first half all it wants, but when the third quarter starts, get yourself a couple of drinks. It’s the longest experience you’ll ever witness.