Raptors 93, Mavericks 98 | Box Score | Quick Reaction | Reaction Podcast
It was bound to happen. Toronto Raptors fans got to enjoy holding the top seed in the Eastern Conference for all of a day, and perhaps there was some karma associated with getting too happy about losses for their adversaries on a Christmas Day slate they were left out of. Maybe the post-Christmas lull is just something the Raptors are bound to have forever. Whatever the case, the Raptors came out of a two-day mini-break looking nothing like the team that entered it having won 12 of 13, dropping a 98-93 decision to a bad Dallas Mavericks team that immediately stands out as one of the team’s worst losses of the season.
Toronto came out showing Dirk Nowitzki a healthy amount of respect as a pick-and-pop threat, trying to stick to him on side pick-and-rolls. That type of assignment is usually a challenge for Jonas Valanciunas, and he uncharacteristically struggled to take advantage of Nowitzki and a very game Maxi Kleber at the other end. He wasn’t alone being off his game a little to start, as even the Raptors’ lone big positive in the early moments – a Kyle Lowry pull-up three in transition – came on a bank. Things were better defensively outside of the Nowitzki matchup, although a few moments of inattention saw OG Anunoby back-cut and then Salah Mejri get free for a good look at the rim.
Anunoby also picked up two early fouls, with lead to some minutes of a returning C.J. Miles with the starters, a rarity. Serge Ibaka answered getting scored on by Kleber and Harrison Barnes consecutively with an offensive rebound for an and-one, and Valanciunas followed by aggressively grabbing his own miss and drawing a foul. That wasn’t quite enough, and Dallas opened up a six-point lead as the Raptors went to their bench bigs. The energy picked up some, but a few misses around the rim and a few unnecessary switches on defense saw Dallas continue to roll, stretching the lead to eight after Jakob Poeltl was whistled for a charge to end the quarter and Dennis Smith Jr. hit back the other way.
The rotation expanded to 11, an all-bench look still without Miles ratcheted things up to start the second, as Delon Wright stole a swing pass for a coast-to-coast dunk and a Norman Powell rebound kick-starting a Pascal Siakam-to-Poeltl transition and-one. Speed opposite the very successful Nowitzki-and-bench unit proved somewhat effective, even if it meant Fred VanVleet guarding the patented Nowitzki elbow fadeaway as Dallas attacked his size, and they actually erased the lead before a 6-0 Mavericks run required a Dwane Casey timeout. It was Wright’s turn to guard Nowitzki on a switch after that, and he blocked that same Hall-of-Fame turnaround jumper, which was easily the highlight of the game.
Despite the fun stretch, the starters faced roughly the same hole they left as they filtered back in. Valanciunas hit consecutive baskets and Lowry drew a foul, leading to a J.J. Barea technical foul that helped build a 10-0 run to wrestle control of the game away from the home side. Lowry took exception to a whistle coming out of a Dallas timeout, too, and he responded with a big three, a forced travel from Barnes on a post-up, then a dump-off for Ibaka free throws. There was slippage that derailed that progress, though, and a Yogi Ferrell-to-Maximilian Kleber alley-oop, the coolest named alley-oop in recent NBA history, sent Dallas into the break up four.
DeMar DeRozan opened up the half with a tough score through contact, a rarity in a game in which he faced some strong Wesley Matthews defense (and generally had an off night). He fairly willingly accepted playing the facilitator role instead, which left Lowry to control more of the game after a strong first half. Toronto grew frustrated with the whistle at both ends, Lowry confused by a shifting line for continuation and foul trouble for Valanciunas leading Casey to try a smaller Siakam-Ibaka frontcourt.
They pushed the pace with that look, opening up a 7-0 run before Dallas pushed back. Lowry finally cooled off a touch before hitting the bench, and a very tough offensive stretch, complete with free-throw problems, lead to a five-minute scoreless stretch for the visitors. That coincided with some effective offense from the Mavericks, all of which led to a 17-0 Mavericks run. Only a prayer of a Poeltl runner at the buzzer kept the game within single-digits, Dallas leading by eight entering the fourth.
Things did not settle down from there. The bench got several nice tip-outs from Poeltl on the offensive glass but struggled through tight spacing and poor 3-point shooting, and Barea’s takeover continued with some help from Nowitzki. Dallas opened up their largest lead, at 11 points, and Casey called on Lowry and Valanciunas to prop up the bench. Valanciunas showed some life in the post and VanVleet dug in to a post-up on defense to force a turnover and kick-start the transition game, only for VanVleet to commit a turnover a possession later and the offense to stay cold.
The starters with VanVleet in place of Anunoby actually locked in and did a pretty good job getting stops against the Mavericks, and Valanciunas did nice work against Mejri. Mejri lost his cool at one point, needing to be separated from Valanciunas and Ibaka after he felt he was fouled on a Raptors’ stop, and a review plus a Mavericks timeout gave Toronto plenty of time to freshen up for a four-minute comeback, the lead now down to five. It helped Dallas more initially, though, as Barea ended the team’s five-minute scoreless drought with a triple.
Ibaka responded with a block and a turnaround jumper in the post, and Casey went super-small without much shooting, playing three point guards, DeRozan, and Ibaka to try to make up the last of the ground. Ibaka missed a pair of good looks from there following great stops, and Barea hit Wright with a spin-move for a reverse to go back up five with 11 seconds to play. The Raptors didn’t have it in them, with Miles curiously used as the trigger-man out of a timeout and DeRozan missing a three, ending the game.
Curious decisions with Miles’ usage down the stretch aside, the Raptors didn’t really deserve to steal this one away, if deserving wins and losses is a thing that exists. They started out a little sloppy, waited until too late in the fourth quarter to find the proper gear defensively, let Barea of all people run amok on them, and didn’t get the kind of transcendent nights from their stars that have occasionally helped paper over nights like that at times. Lowry was really strong but DeRozan had one of his worst nights of the season, and not even dual double-doubles from Ibaka and Valanciunas could help float the offense in support. There was also a pretty clear adjustment period going on as Casey tried to figure out how to work an 11th man back into the rotation.
In the big picture, it was one of those losses that just sort of happens, very similar to the Clippers game, not that anyone will feel better about that. It’s tough that the Raptors have a pair of them in what could otherwise be a 14-game winning streak, and it’s a little concerning that the team’s three best players played 31-to-36 minutes to lose the easier night of a back-to-back, putting them at a disadvantage as they try to avoid their first consecutive losses in over a month. The hope has to be that they come out against the Thunder in such a way that everyone can forget the Mavericks game happened. Re-committing to moving the ball and just having some of the usual looks drop would certainly go a long way to that end.
