Mavs still winless in preseason after 103-97 loss to Cavaliers
The all-important team goal obviously wasn’t met Monday night. But individually, Dwight Powell made some meaningful contributions in his first preseason game of the year.
The second-year forward from Stanford collected 11 points and seven rebounds in 24 minutes before 18,768 at Quicken Loans Arena. But it wasn’t enough as the Cleveland Cavaliers eked out a 103-97 triumph over the Dallas Mavericks.
The loss kept the Mavs winless this preseason at 0-5, while the Cavs — playing without LeBron James and Kyrie Irving — manufactured their first win and finished the preseason at 1-6.
Powell missed four exhibition games with a sprained left elbow suffered last month playing with the Canadian National Team. But the 6-foot-11, 240-pounder started at center Monday and converted 4 of 9 shots, drawing praise from the Mavs’ coaching staff.
“It felt good to contribute,” Powell said. “Obviously we didn’t get the results we wanted, but it felt good to get back out there.”
Coach Rick Carlisle was pleased with how the offense was able to flow with Powell in the middle.
“He’s a little out of rhythm, as you can expect having been out for so long, but [he did] a lot of good things,” Carlisle said. “He always goes hard. He’s an athletic guy, he knows how to play, he’s got skills and we need him. So it was good to get him back.”
John Jenkins led the Mavs in scoring for a fifth straight game, popping in a game-high 26 points. But he was upset with his seven turnovers and an open 3-pointer he missed with the Mavs trailing 99-97 with 17.9 seconds to go.
“That was a perfect look,” said Jenkins, who converted 14-of-16 at the free-throw line. “It actually slipped out of my hand when I shot it.
“We had other chances to win the game. Like I said, I’ve just got to do a better job of leading the team down the stretch.”
Dirk Nowitzki started and played 17 of his 23 minutes in the first half, finishing with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting. He also found his shooting stroke from downtown, nailing 3-of-3 from 3-point range.
“Dirk played well,” Carlisle said. “He wanted to play into the second half, and I thought it worked out well.”
Jeremy Evans added 12 points and six rebounds, and rookie Justin Anderson collected 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting. Raymond Felton was solid in running the offense, pouring in eight points and dispensing seven assists in 19 minutes, including a pair of well-executed lob dunks to Powell.
The Mavs led 32-24 after the first quarter, thanks to nine points from Jenkins. Powell added seven points in the second as the Mavs went into the dressing room nursing a 52-45 lead.
But that frantic fourth quarter included four offensive fouls whistled against the Mavs, including three on consecutive trips up the court.
In the end, the Mavs were delighted that no other players were injured in the game, although Samuel Dalembert (left leg) and Maurice Ndour (left tibia) didn’t make the trip. The Mavs also were without Chandler Parsons, Wesley Matthews, Deron Williams, J. J. Barea, JaVale McGee and Zaza Pachulia.
“We won the first half and our guys hung in well at the end,” Carlisle said. “We’ve got to look at this kind of in separate parts — some of it.
“It’s not ideal right now, but it’s a process and we got two more games to keep improving conditioning and getting guys working on chemistry and things like that, and we’ll just keep working on it. The important thing is we got out of here without any further injuries, which is a very encouraging thing.”
Dwain Price: 817-390-7760, @dwainprice
This story was originally published October 19, 2015 at 10:46 PM with the headline "Mavs still winless in preseason after 103-97 loss to Cavaliers."