Sluggish Mavericks routed by Raptors; Matthews leaves with injury

For the first time in over a month, the Dallas Mavericks got body-slammed by an opponent.

DeMar DeRozan poured in 25 points and the Raptors used a torrid second-half display en route to zooming past the Mavs 100-78 on Monday night before a sellout crowd of 19,800 at Air Canada Centre.

The loss was a costly one for the Mavs, who saw guard Wesley Matthews leave the game in the first half with a strained right calf and did not return. Matthews refused to discuss his injury after the game.

“I believe it’s a mild strain,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “I didn’t want to risk it bringing him back.

“We’ll see how he’s doing tomorrow and then on Wednesday. I think he’ll be listed day-to-day, but we’ll see.”

This was the second loss in a row for the Mavs, who looked lethargic in the second half in the opener of this four-game road trip that continues Wednesday in Washington. This also was the Mavs worst defeat since Denver hammered them 110-87 on Feb. 6.

The Mavs shot just 36.5 percent from the field, were outrebounded 55-34, and dropped to 28-38 on the season.

More important, the Mavs were within shouting distance of Toronto, only trailing 50-46 at the half. But without center Nerlens Noel, who missed his third straight game with a sore left knee, Dallas was outscored 50-32 in a second half that went oh-so-wrong.

“In the first half our ball movement was terrific, and then we just missed some shots that were real makeable,” Carlisle said. “A couple of times we dropped our head a little bit and they scored on us.

“Those are two or three we don’t get, and then they scored two or three. Those are about three or four five-point swings in untimely situations that really cost us at key times, and they built up a pretty good cushion.”

Carlisle lamented the fact that the Mavs had a scoring meltdown on a night when they had just seven turnovers.

“To have a seven-turnover game and only score 78 points is not a normal situation,” Carlisle said. “But they’re a good defensively team and they’re very physical.’

It was yet another tough night for guard Seth Curry. After scoring just three points in Saturday’s 100-98 loss to the Phoenix Suns, Curry managed just five points on 2-of-8 shooting against the Raptors, and it’s becoming a complete mystery as to why he suddenly can’t find the basket.

“I’ve been game-planned before,” Curry said. “Right now I just got to figure it out.

“I’ve got to find a way to get my shots.”

Toronto carried a 79-66 lead into the fourth quarter and then went on to mount as much as a 23-point cushion, with the help of back-to-back 3-pointers by Patrick Patterson.

“On both ends we didn’t get it done tonight,” said Dirk Nowitzki, who scored 17 points and grabbed seven boards. “We didn’t really shoot the ball well enough. ...

“Our defense just wasn’t good enough — it was OK. We tired to trap DeRozan, sometimes our zone was a little effective here and there, but overall not good enough.”

DeRozan made 10 of 17 shots and had the Mavs running in circles trying to chase him down.

“DeMar got a little run there. ... and we just unfortunately couldn’t keep up our scoring on the other end,” said Harrison Barnes, who scored a a team-high 18 points. “When we’re not getting stops and they’re scoring at will, it’s hard to get back in the game.”

This story was originally published March 13, 2017 at 10:24 PM with the headline "Sluggish Mavericks routed by Raptors; Matthews leaves with injury."