The Dallas Mavericks played host to the Sacrament Kings on Monday night, losing not only the game 122-98 and more ground in the standings, but also losing two more players in a truly shocking list of injuries that simply has no end. The Mavs really needed a win after getting blown out by the Bucks in their last game and falling to the 10 seed. Unfortunately, with an already depleted team and new injuries to Kyrie Irving and Jaden Hardy, this game was over before the third quarter came to a close. For perspective, it took the Mavs until 2:14 in the third to score as many points as the Kings had at halftime. Let’s get to the grades!
Dante Exum: D
5 Points / 0 Rebounds / 4 Assists / 0 Steals / 0 Blocks (22 Minutes)
Dante gets saddled with a D here, while other players (read on) avoided it for various reasons. Exum gets the basement grade purely because he had opportunities with few excuses but couldn’t capitalize. Just 2-for-10 from the floor with four turnovers.
Klay Thompson: C-
3 Points / 3 Rebounds / 0 Assists / 0 Steals / 0 Blocks (25 Minutes)
I’m not really sure what to say here. Thompson took four shots, missing three of them. The misses are less glaring to me than the overall number of shots. Klay Thompson can’t take only four shots in a game where the Mavs had zero offense.
Kessler Edwards: C+
6 Points / 4 Rebounds / 4 Assists / 0 Steals / 0 Blocks (22 Minutes)
Edwards started at power forward tonight, but the move from (undersized) center didn’t really help much. He hit both of his shots, but that sort of says it all. He only took two shots. He chipped in a bit in other categories and his limited minutes help his grade slightly, but there just isn’t much coming from him.
Spencer Dinwiddie: C
10 Points / 2 Rebounds / 6 Assists / 1 Steal / 0 Blocks (27 Minutes)
He doesn’t get a D because I do believe he was fouled on about half of his shot attempts (he started 0-for-9), but this was a horrible night for Dinwiddie. Flush it and look forward to the next game.
Max Christie: C+
10 Points / 5 Rebounds / 4 Assists / 1 Steal / 0 Blocks (29 Minutes)
The Max Christie honeymoon isn’t over in my mind, but we certainly miss the best version of him that he showed early in his Mavs tenure. He had a relatively decent game, but even that description may be a bit of a stretch. He has been hard-pressed to find his shot lately, and will need to correct that ASAP with the list of injured players growing by the game.
Naji Marshall: A-
18 Points / 5 Rebounds / 6 Assists / 2 Steals / 0 Blocks (30 Minutes)
Naji is still struggling to find his three point shot, but he worked around that tonight, taking smart shots and driving to the hole. He chipped in a very nice overall game that he can hopefully use as a launchpad, because the team is going to need him at his best for the foreseeable future.
Kai Jones: A+
21 Points / 9 Rebounds / 0 Assists / 0 Steals / 1 Block (33 Minutes)
Jones was basically awesome, especially relative to the virtually non-existent expectations he had coming in. Coming out of nowhere to drop a career high in points for a team that desperately needed a big body was the only real bright spot for Mavs Nation in this one. Granted the Kings were without Domantas Sabonis, but Jones looked like an NBA player that put himself in the correct spot and showed crazy hops and an ability to finish around the rim. He has 11 more games of eligibility after this one, so here’s hoping those look like this one.
