Boban on Mavs’ loss to Rockets: ‘I think we looked like a team that is not energized’
Goforitradio Staff
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On Saturday, the Dallas Mavericks(8-8) appeared to be a tired team against the Rockets(6-9). Dallas trailed by as much as 16 points in the first quarter and trailed by 11 at the break.
The Mavericks would make a run in the third quarter and cut the lead to three, but Houston would dominate from there and push the lead to 21, and Dallas would fall to the Rockets at home 133-108.
DeMarcus Cousins led Houston with 28 points, 17 rebounds, and 5 assists. This was his second double-double of the season, and Eric Gordon contributed 33 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists. Luka Doncic had a team-high 26 points for the Mavericks.
Dallas was on the second night of a back-to-back, and their game against the Rockets was the fifth game in seven nights for Dallas, but that was no excuse, according to Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle.
“We don’t have any excuses,” Carlisle said. “Didn’t play well enough. The energy was a factor. We were able to get it up in spurts, but we weren’t able to sustain. They had more juice. We obviously miss KP [Kristaps Porzingis] and the other four guys, but everybody is going through something right now. Houston is missing a couple of their good players, too. We’re off tomorrow. We need a restful day tomorrow, and then it’s another busy week next week.”
Again, Dallas was without Maxi Kleber, Dorian Finney-Smith, Dwight Powell, and Josh Richardson due to health and safety protocols. Also, they were without Kristaps Porzingis due to rest.
Mavericks center Boban Marjanovic, who had 15 points and 12 rebounds on Saturday night, felt the team did not have enough energy against the Rockets.
“I think we looked like a team that is not energized,” Marjanovic said. “I feel that because the schedule was so tough, with back-to-back games and being on the road, we come back here, and then we go back on the road… We expect the guys back as soon as possible, and we need to continue to play how we know how to play.”
Based on the schedule, we will continue to see games like this in the NBA, where teams look sluggish, and teams just look very bad. It happens, and now Dallas has to regroup and play four games in seven days, starting on Monday at home against Denver.
