The Dallas Mavericks (26-23) were rolling in the first quarter on Saturday night. They scored a season-high 44 points and led by 24 points at the end of the quarter. Dallas shot 61% from the field in the first.
As good as they were in the first quarter, they were just as bad in the second. Milwaukee (33-16) finally got going. They had a 40-point quarter and outscored the Mavericks 40-21, but the Mavs took a 65-60 lead at the break.
The Bucks, who shot 75% in the second quarter, outscored the Mavs 69-52 in the second half and defeated Dallas 129-117 at American Airlines Center.
Dallas did not have any answers for Milwaukee’s two best players.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had a game-high 48 points (20-28 FG, 2-5 3FG, 6-10 FT), six rebounds, 10 assists, five steals, and one block, and Damian Lillard added 30 points (10-11 FG, 5-5 3FG, 5-6 FT), three rebounds, eight assists and one block. His 30 points on 10-of-11 shooting marked the most efficient 30-point game of his career.
The duo combined for 78 points.
“When Dame (Damian Lillard) only misses one shot and Giannis [Antetokounmpo] goes 20-28, that can put you in a bad way, and those guys took advantage of that,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said.
After allowing 20 points in the first quarter, Dallas allowed 109 points over the final three quarters, and Luka Doncic, who added 40 points, nine rebounds, and 11 assists, pointed to the team’s defense on why things fell apart for Dallas.
“I think our defense, we held them to 20 points in the first quarter,” Doncic said.
Maxi Kleber, who added a season-high 21 points, agreed with Doncic that the Mavs needed to play better defense.
“I’d say we got hot in the first quarter and cooled down a little bit in the second quarter,” Kleber said. “That’s when we have to maintain the lead. Even though we made shots in the first, we got stops, and we didn’t do it in the second quarter.”
It’s a make-or-miss league, and the Mavericks made nine threes in the first, but the 7/25 from deep the rest of the way.
Doncic believes Dallas has to stop settling for threes and attack the rim.
“Obviously, we shoot a lot of threes,” he said. “I think sometimes we need to attack more.”
Dallas will embark on a three-game east coast road trip, starting Monday in Philly against the 76ers. The Mavs are currently the eighth seed in the West and are three games up on the 10th-seeded Rockets, so they must play well on this upcoming trip.
