The Dallas Mavericks made only three 3-pointers against the Minnesota Timberwolves in their most recent loss, and they felt like they let their best scorer down in the process.
The Dallas Mavericks fell to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night, losing 118-105. Considering that the Mavericks remain without Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis, and Dereck Lively II and missed both Cooper Flagg and Klay Thompson, a loss was to be expected.
Still, the Mavericks didn't put up much of a fight, going 3-for-18 from deep as a team.
Since 2017, there have been 114 games where a team failed to make more than three 3-pointers. Only ten times has the ice-cold team won the game.
Mavericks Let Down Their Best Scorer
With Flagg out, the Mavericks turned to Max Christie to get the offense going. Heading into the contest, Christie was shooiting 45.5% from deep on the season, and has emerged as a key player for Dallas moving forward.
However, the Wolves managed to hold Christie to just nine points on one made field goal, swarming him and getting physical down the stretch. Dallas was unable to implement any changes, and the game quickly got away from them.
"We should be able to adjust quickly," summed up Jason Kidd after the game. "I think just being able to set good screens and try to get Max open. But the passing has to play a part in that, and being able to get the ball to him in time. But tonight we just weren't able to do that. I thought he was trying to set screens to get others open, which normally would give him an opportunity, but we just couldn't connect the dots."
With all five starters failing to make a single shot from behind the arc, the Wolves could double-team the Mavericks' shooters, and without a true, experienced point guard, the Mavericks couldn't pass their way out.
"They were physical with Max early on, right from the start," Kidd added. "And then we started off with turnovers right off the bat that didn't help us."
As Christie hopes to keep breaking out this season, his teammates felt like they didn';t give him the support he needed.
"He's been playing his butt off, so he's one of the best shooters in the league, so I mean, every team should do that, he's gonna adjust and be better, but I think we gotta do a better job of helping him, get some pressure off of him, create some easy ones for him," said PJ Washington. "And we just gotta be there, knock 3s down."