SAN FRANCISCO — As the drama of Kyrie Irving rumors, general NBA trade deadline speculation and another Luka Doncic injury loomed Saturday night, the Dallas Mavericks ignored outside distractions for a couple hours and played basketball against the Golden State Warriors.
Despite a 13-0 run late in the fourth quarter, their 119-111 loss will only stoke calls for change.
The Mavericks trailed by double-digits for all but three minutes of the last three quarters.
They lost a game in the uber-close Western Conference standings to the also-middling Warriors, who lost superstar Steph Curry in the third quarter to a lower left leg injury.
And they showed against the same backdrop of their Game 5 Western Conference finals exit last spring that nearly all roster moves around Doncic in the eight months since have failed to meet expectations.
As Spencer Dinwiddie played without a secondary creator (like Jalen Brunson) to help fill Doncic’s void, as JaVale McGee watched piecemeal lineup experiments unfold from the bench, and as the Mavericks dropped to 0-7 in full games without Doncic this season, fans and viewers of ABC’s national broadcast had to wonder:
What direction are the Mavericks going?
“He’s an MVP,” Dinwiddie said of Doncic. “You’re not better without him, right? Is Milwaukee better without Giannis or is Denver better without Jokic? Like, the answer is easily no.”
Brace yourselves, because at least one more game without Doncic is coming this week.
Before tipoff Saturday, coach Jason Kidd provided updates on the Mavericks’ growing list of injuries:
Good news: Christian Wood (left thumb fracture) and Maxi Kleber (right hamstring surgery) did not suffer any setbacks by ramping up their activity in practice Friday. Kleber will continue to progress from 1-on-1 workouts over the coming weeks, while Wood’s success in a 5-on-5 scrimmage could mean a return as soon as Monday in Utah.
Bad news: Reserve forward Davis Bertans, who exited with a left calf strain early in the second quarter Thursday after hitting three 3-pointers in his first five minutes, will be out through the Feb. 16-22 All-Star break.
And, “best for last,” Kidd joked: Doncic is “healing, day to day, doing better” but will not rejoin the team in Utah for the Jazz game Monday. The Mavericks remain hopeful Doncic can return before the end of this five-game road trip, either Wednesday against the Los Angeles Clippers or during the Friday-Saturday back to back against the Sacramento Kings.
“We’ll see where he’s at after that Utah game,” Kidd said.
Same for the Mavericks’ standing in the Western Conference.
Dallas (28-26) entered Saturday’s contest at No. 4 — thanks to the league’s intense parity, not their 5-9 record since Jan. 8 — but remained just 1.5 games ahead of the sub-play-in-tournament No. 11 seed.
The Warriors (27-26) marked the Mavericks’ second of eight consecutive West opponents within that playoff range or above.
“Game by game, you can go from fourth to 10th,” Kidd said. “The playoffs will arrive early.”
Hard not to think about the postseason during the Mavericks’ first visit to Chase Center since the conference finals.
After that series, general manager Nico Harrison pointed to Dallas’ undersized frontcourt and rebounding issues as the main reason they failed to beat the eventual-champion Warriors, and owner Mark Cuban declared full confidence Jalen Brunson would re-sign as a free agent because “we can pay him more than anybody.”
Fast forward to Saturday.
The Knicks’ $100-million-man Brunson dropped 41 points in 38 minutes in New York while the Mavericks turned to two-way guard McKinley Wright IV as a primary ball-handler for a stretch in the second quarter against the Warriors and for extended time in the second half.
Kidd rotated 6-foot-7 center Finney-Smith as his back-up center and end-of-the-bench, 6-foot-6 forward Theo Pinson as his next big-man option after that because he said he wanted to run small lineups against Warriors star Draymond Green.
McGee, whom Dallas signed to a three-year, $17.2 million contract in free agency with the promise of a starting job, joined 10-day-contract signee Chris Silva as the only available Mavericks who did not play.
The Mavericks’ engagement didn’t waver, however.
Players stood for most of the last five minutes while hoping their 13-0 run that started with five minutes remaining and cut the deficit to five points (116-111) inside the last two minutes would fuel a massive upset comeback.
But Warriors center Kevon Looney grabbed an offensive rebound to extend a possession with about a minute remaining, and Reggie Bullock committed a turnover in transition moments later.
No Magic without Luka.
Twitter: @CallieCaplan
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