Mavs struggled after Anthony Davis exited with injury, facing early deficits and unmatched Warriors' offensive rebounds in a costly Christmas loss.
SAN FRANCISCO — The Dallas Mavericks arrived at Chase Center hoping their annual Christmas showcase might offer momentum; instead, the holiday underscored how thin the margin has become without health and continuity.
Dallas’ sixth consecutive Christmas Day appearance ended with a 126–116 loss to the Golden State Warriors, a game defined by early deficits, a pivotal injury to Anthony Davis and a shooting math problem the Mavericks never solved. The defeat dropped Dallas to 12–20, while Golden State won for a third straight time to improve to 16–15.
The most significant development came late in the second quarter. Davis exited with right groin spasms after pulling up while running the floor on a transition play. He briefly received treatment on the bench before heading to the locker room. The team provided no update postgame.
In the absence of its most important two-way presence, Dallas scrambled to reconfigure the frontcourt. Daniel Gafford absorbed added responsibility, and P.J. Washington opened the second half at center. The Warriors capitalized on the disruption, collecting 13 offensive rebounds that turned into 24 second-chance points and consistently resetting possessions at critical moments.
Speaking after the game, head coach Jason Kidd emphasized effort while acknowledging the compounding challenges of the schedule and the injury.
“Losing AD definitely hurt,” Kidd said. “One of our best players goes out. But the next man up. I thought we fought, but we couldn’t get a stop when we needed to. It’s a good game for us to learn from.”
Kidd later expanded on the context of the loss, citing travel fatigue and rebounding issues that surfaced once the game tightened.
“The schedule hasn’t been on our side,” he said. “We started this trip on the East Coast and now we’re in San Francisco. The guys fought, got it down to four or six there for a second. But we just weren’t able to rebound the ball, and that’s something that’s hurt us here of late.”
The Mavericks did make pushes. Brandon Williams caught fire during the third quarter, repeatedly getting downhill and to the free-throw line as Dallas trimmed the margin to single digits. Cooper Flagg, making his first Christmas Day appearance, continued a scoring rhythm that had begun before halftime, shooting efficiently as the Mavericks tried to keep contact.
Flagg finished with 27 points, six rebounds and four assists, becoming the first rookie since Pete Maravich in 1970 to post a 25–5–5 line on Christmas Day. He also joined Maravich and Oscar Robertson as the only rookies to do so on the holiday. Williams added a season-high 26 points off the bench, providing the necessary spark when the rotation thinned.
Reflecting on Davis’ absence, Flagg described the challenge of recalibrating on the fly.
“It’s tough,” Flagg said. “Obviously, it’s really unfortunate for us. We’re a better team when he’s on the court, when he’s playing at his best. But we’ve got to have the next-man-up mentality and try and fill the hole as best we can.”
The structural issue, however, was perimeter shooting. Dallas attempted just 14 three-pointers and made four — a season-low volume that left little margin in an era dictated by spacing. Golden State, by contrast, made 14 from beyond the arc, including timely shots whenever Dallas threatened.
Kidd addressed the imbalance directly.
“If we’re not taking it, it’s not there,” he said. “To be twos against threes, a lot of times you’re going to lose those games. We’re attacking the paint, but you also have to be able to shoot the three. Right now, we’re not shooting the three.”
For Golden State, the afternoon carried milestone significance. Stephen Curry scored 23 points, surpassing 26,000 for his career on a third-quarter layup and later burying a 26-foot three with 3:44 remaining that stretched the lead to 11 and effectively ended Dallas’ comeback bid.
Curry’s longtime teammate-turned-opponent Klay Thompson, who received a warm ovation in his return to The Bay, reflected on the moment with mixed emotions.
“Really cool,” Thompson said. “Wish he didn’t get a win. But it was awesome.”
Thompson, who finished with seven points, also pointed to ball movement as a fix for Dallas’ shooting drought.
“Maybe more side-to-side movement, drive-and-kicks,” he said. “It’s something that’s correctable.”
The Mavericks cut the deficit to five midway through the fourth quarter but could not sustain the pressure. Without Davis anchoring both ends, the final minutes required perfection Dallas could not reach.
What lingered beyond the result was the uncertainty surrounding Davis’ availability and another reminder of how fragile the Mavericks’ progress remains. On a day built for celebration, Dallas left Chase Center with familiar questions — and no Christmas miracle.