After a late-game defensive breakdown resulted in a frustrating two-point loss in Utah last Thursday, the Mavericks immediately watched film and held a post-game meeting, with “accountability, effort and unselfishness” among the themes, writes Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News.
“We talked about a lot of things, and got a lot of things out in the open,” Mavericks forward P.J. Washington said, according to Tony Jones of The Athletic. “But the main thing is that we knew we were better than that, and that we had to be better going forward.”
“We needed to stop playing ‘I’ basketball and we needed to play ‘we’ basketball,” center Dereck Lively added, per Curtis. “That’s what we’ve been doing these past couple of games and it’s been working.”
As Lively points out, the Mavericks have turned things around since falling to 5-7 with that loss in Utah. The team will take a four-game winning streak into Miami on Sunday, having registered a pair of comfortable home victories over San Antonio and New Orleans along with two impressive road wins in Oklahoma City and Denver in the past week. While that loss to the Jazz has cost the Mavs a few spots in the tightly congested Western Conference standings, Washington is happy that something good came out of it.
“In a way I’m kind of glad that it happened,” he said. “Because you never want to lose like that. We all knew that we were capable of doing a lot of things better. We needed to be accountable to each other. So, that’s why we kind of talked about it right after the game.”
We have more from around the Southwest:
- Mavericks forward Naji Marshall helped seal Friday’s win over Denver, playing clutch minutes in the fourth quarter with Klay Thompson on the bench, notes Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link). Grant Afseth of Sportskeeda spoke to Marshall about adjusting to a new team this fall after spending four years in New Orleans and talked to some of Marshall’s new teammates about the impact the newcomer has had so far. “This is the most talented team I’ve been on,” Marshall told Afseth. “The coaches are great, the front office is amazing, and the training staff is incredible. I really have no complaints.”
- Devin Vassell (sore left knee) will be unavailable for a fourth straight game on Saturday, but it appears Victor Wembanyama (bruised right knee) will make his return after missing the past three contests. After initially listing both players as questionable, the Spurs have ruled out Vassell and upgraded Wembanyama to probable, tweets Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News.
- The Pelicans have lost 13 of 15 games since opening the season with back-to-back wins and now hold a 4-13 record. However, Zion Williamson remains optimistic that the team has time to turn things around, especially once more key players – including Zion himself – return from injuries. “We know the position we are in right now,” Williamson said, per Christian Clark of NOLA.com. “It’s not a good one at the moment. We come in the gym every day in good spirits. We are going to figure it out.”
- One injured Pelicans player who appears to be nearing a return? CJ McCollum. The veteran guard has been on the shelf since October 29 due to a thigh injury, but told reporters that he went through a contact practice on Saturday and hopes to suit up on Monday vs. Indiana (Twitter link via Will Guillory of The Athletic).
> The Pelicans … now hold a 4-13 record. However, Zion
> Williamson remains optimistic that the team has time
> to turn things around
Based on projected records for the rest of the teams , the Pels would need a W-L of 43-22 in the remaining games to finish 10th in the Western Conference. Odds are currently about 3000 to 1.
Circumstance
Pelicans have a trade exception of $9,900,000 that expires on July 7, 2025 when they acquired guard Dejounte Murray in a sign-and-trade deal with the Hawks
Zion is highly unlikely to play 60 games.
My trade idea
Warriors get a 2nd round pick from Pelicans and TPE
Pelicans get $7.24 million cash consideration from Warriors and 3 second round picks
There is no 3 round picks
So Klay is finding out it wasn’t the warriors that put him on the bench but his poor play. Just sad that a older player refuse to admit their body is not the same. Hope Klay can accept a bench job as a 3 point shooter off the bench.
Spurs have to start to consider whether Vassell is just one of those guys that will never consistently be on the floor. He makes them better when he plays but if his list of injuries continue it will be time to move on.