Mavs must play better in the first quarter

DALLAS – Rick Carlisle sounds like a broken record when he keeps repeating the urgency of his team to find a way to outscore their opponent in the first quarter.

"It’s no secret that the NBA in many ways is a first-quarter league,’’ the Dallas Mavericks’ coach said after this morning’s shootaround. "It’s something we’ve got to get cleaned up and do better with.’’

The Mavs are only a minus-1.1 in scoring differential in the first quarter of their 58 games this season. More importantly, they have an impressive 18-7 record when they win the first quarter and an 11-20 record when they lose it.

Carlisle’s squad is hopeful of getting off to a fast start tonight when the Mavs (30-28) entertain the Denver Nuggets (23-35) at 7:30 at American Airlines Center.

Carlisle admits the pressure it places on his team for the rest of the game when they trail after the first quarter.

"It puts pressure on any team, it’s not just ours,’’ he said. "It’s a very competitive league now, so it’s difficult to play well.

"Everybody is going hard, everybody is trying to win, but we got to pick it up. We’re at home, which means we should be able to generate energy here, and we’re in a very important stretch, so we just got to make it happen.’’

Carlisle acknowledged that he’ll "consider anything,’’ including a change to his starting lineup, if that would help his team get off to a better start.

"But I don’t buy that just because guys are veteran guys that they need more time to get into a game,’’ Carlisle said. "The urgency is now, and these guys are our best players -- they have to set that tone.

"There’s no excuse. We just got to pick it up.’’

This story was originally published February 26, 2016 at 11:51 AM with the headline "Mavs must play better in the first quarter."