The Dallas Mavericks’ Summer League squad suffered a crushing 108-88 defeat against the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night in Las Vegas, in a game that wasn’t even as close as the score suggested.
From the outset, the game was never in question. Dallas fell behind 25-4 in the opening minutes of the first quarter and never recovered. The Mavericks had one of the sloppiest games in Summer League history with an astonishing 27 turnovers, leading to 36 points for Memphis.
The Grizzlies’ relentless ball pressure overwhelmed the Mavericks’ guards, who continually turned the ball over. This led to Memphis dominating in transition, scoring 58 points in the paint. Memphis forward G.G. Jackson led all scorers with 23 points, while Dallas forward Olivier-Maxence Prosper led the Mavericks with 16 points.
Dallas now falls to 0-2 in Vegas, while Memphis improves to 2-0. The Mavericks have another chance to turn things around.
A Tough Loss to Watch
Having watched many Summer League games, I’ve seen a lot of sloppy and disjointed basketball. It’s just the nature of throwing together a bunch of rookies, younger players, and journeymen trying to find a place in their professional careers. Even with those qualifiers, this Mavericks loss might have been one of the ugliest Summer League performances I’ve ever seen.
The Mavericks started off down 25-4 in the first quarter, and it just never got any better. They struggled to dribble the ball, resulting in turnover after turnover. The first half felt like a Globetrotters game, with the Grizzlies scoring on alley-oops almost every other possession. With about two minutes left in the third quarter, the score was 80-46, and the Mavericks had 23 turnovers and only 17 made field goals.
Dallas cleaned things up a little in the fourth to make the final score seem more respectable, but they still finished with 27 turnovers. Memphis has one of the better Summer League rosters with NBA contributors G.G. Jackson and Scotty Pippen Jr. in their starting lineup, but this was a difficult game to watch.
More Struggles for O-Max
After scoring just 11 points on 2-of-10 shooting in the Mavericks’ first Summer League game, Olivier Maxence-Prosper showed some improvement against the Grizzlies, but it was still a difficult game for the Mavericks’ first-round pick from last summer.
Prosper led the team with 16 points but struggled from the floor again, shooting 6-of-14. In the first half, he had just two points on 1-of-6 shooting and only started to find his rhythm during garbage time in the fourth quarter, although about 75 percent of this game was garbage time. Prosper made three straight shots in the fourth to salvage his shooting line, but he still looked rough.
Thankfully for the Mavericks, Prosper’s motor never shut off. He played hard and flashed some promising defensive potential. However, his offense just isn’t suited for Summer League, where he’s being asked to take shots he likely won’t in an NBA setting. Prosper did show improvement from three, going 2-of-4 from beyond the arc. Hopefully, he can continue to improve in the next game.
We’re All Struggling
Speaking of struggles… have you seen Mavs Moneyball lately? I kid, but if you take a look at the home page of our website, you’ll notice the content just hasn’t been flowing like it usually does, and these brutal Summer League games definitely don’t help.
It was a long season for our staff, with an unexpected NBA Finals run. Most of the senior staff and editors are too old to be blogging as a side gig or hobby (raises hand!), and I think most of us were burnt out after the Finals ended since we put so much effort into covering the playoff run. We just don’t have a lot left in the tank.
To be honest, I can’t in good conscience recommend you continue watching the Mavericks’ Summer League. With Dallas’ roster locked in as a contender, there just isn’t much room for any of these guys to contribute at the NBA level, and that’s even if Prosper was lighting it up. NBA contenders don’t normally need Summer League standouts to soak up minutes during the regular season, so that’s no slight to these players or the Mavericks’ roster construction. On the contrary, Dallas has done such a good job building its NBA roster over the last 18 months that it makes Summer League a quaint luxury.
So maybe find some time to recharge before the real games tip off again in just a few months. October is not that far away! We’ll keep writing about these games, of course (unless we forget), and we’ll try to rev up the content machine in earnest before the summer ends. Sorry for the dry spell, we’ll be back at full speed soon enough. Or just keep watching these Summer League games because you’re a true sicko — no kink shaming here.
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