By Dorothy J. Gentry
Sports Editor
One Dallas Maverick player scored 31 points’ another 39 and still another 24 but it turned out to be not quite enough as the team fell to the Houston Rockets in a high-scoring overtime loss 153-149.
The game was the first of eight “seeding” games for the 22 teams in the NBA Restart down in the Orlando Bubble. Each team plays eight games to see where they will place for the playoffs which start Aug. 17th.
With the loss, the Mavs (40-28) dropped four games behind the Rockets (41-24) in the loss column.
“I just know that this is a tough loss,“ Coach Rick Carlisle said after the game. “This is about as tough as it gets, and it just comes down to basic execution. I’ll take full responsibility for the loss.
“I want to keep the pressure off the players. They really played their butts off. But we were unable to make a few key plays that we needed to make.”
Luka Doncic finished the night with his NBA-leading 15th triple-double of the season. He scored 28 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists before fouling out in the last seconds of the game.
Kristaps Porzingis scored a season-high 39 points. “I think we should have stayed probably just more offensive-minded the way we were the whole game,” Porzingis said of how he feels they lost the game. “At the end we kind of tried to slow it down, and their pressure was up obviously.
“And we tried to slow it down and kind of just cruise and win the game–or maybe not to lose the game. That was maybe our mindset a little bit. We just have to go out there and keep playing aggressively and attack. Obviously, we still had many chances to win the game.”
Trey Burke came in off the bench and scored a season high 31 points.
“This was a big game, the first game for us and I think we all wanted to set a tone. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the win but I think it was a wake-up call going into Sunday.”
The Mavs dropped their second game against the Phoenix Suns on Aug. 2nd and currently sit at 40-29 for the season. The team has clinched a playoff spot after the Memphis Grizzlies also lost.
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