Rebound issues come back to haunt Mavericks

Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle was asked before Friday’s game with the Sacramento Kings whether he needed to prevent his team from overcompensating for any failures in Wednesday’s season-opening loss.

Specifically, the Mavs’ rebounding disadvantage proved too much to overcome in the waning moments of a six-point loss to the Atlanta Hawks.

“I hope we overreact to the rebounding problems,” Carlisle said pointedly. The Mavs had been outrebounded 50-41 and couldn’t come down with the ball enough in the deciding final two minutes.

Friday against the Kings in Game No. 2, rebounding was an even bigger issue. And somehow the Mavs fought through it to keep it interesting down the stretch.

The Mavs were manhandled 57-36 on the boards, including 35-20 in a first half that ended locked at 46. It was enough of an advantage for the Kings, who were able to hold on for a 93-88 win.

“What really stands out is the rebounding again, it’s disappointing because we started out bigger and instead of losing that by nine, we lost it by 21,” Carlisle said. “And that’s not a good sign. And we knew they were a great rebounding team, but we have to get better in that area.”

Buddy Hield’s key offensive rebound, fittingly on a missed fadeaway jumper, set up George Hill’s 17-footer that gave the Kings a five-point lead with 30 seconds remaining. Hill led the Kings with 21 points on 9 of 12 shooting.

Dorian Finney-Smith’s 3-pointer from the corner pulled the Mavs within 71-69 with 10:25 remaining. At that moment, the Kings held a 45-30 rebound advantage. After a timeout, Harrison Barnes’ 3-pointer gave the Mavs a 72-71 lead, their first lead since early in the second half when Dirk Nowitzki hit a 3 to make it 51-50. Dallas had wiped out an 11-point deficit to start the final quarter.

Barnes led the Mavs with 24 points, including 19 in the second half, with 16 of those coming in the fourth quarter.

“I think this season is going to be a lot of games like tonight,” said Barnes, who was 8 of 18 from the field, including 2 of 3 from the 3-point arc. He had four rebounds. “It’s going to be close and it’s going to come down to a couple of rebounds here and there. We still got outrebounded. It’s more of an effort and focus as opposed lineups and personnel.

The Mavs were playing without two of their guards, Dennis Smith Jr., who was out with a sore left knee, and Devin Harris, who is dealing with Thursday’s death of his older brother.

“We just have to do a few things a lot better,” Carlisle said. “It’s a game of such small margins for error that if you get a negative differential of nine rebounds you’re really putting yourself in harm’s way because that’s nine times they have it and you don’t.”

Or 21 times, which was the case Friday night.

This story was originally published October 20, 2017 at 10:29 PM with the headline "Rebound issues come back to haunt Mavericks."