Which Key Battle Will Define Mavs Vs. Giannis' Winless Heat?

Dallas lost its home opener to San Antonio 122-106 on Saturday, and the most encouraging development of the young season came out of it anyway.

With Cooper Flagg out and Kyrie Irving held back for knee management, Sergio de Larrea led the Mavericks with 21 points off the bench, going 9-of-15 from the field and 3-of-4 from 3-point range in 33 minutes while adding five rebounds and four assists. 

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He did not do it alone. Marcus Sasser contributed 12 points and five assists on 5-of-9 shooting, hitting two of five from deep, and the two repeatedly found each other throughout the second half. Sasser has been exactly what Dallas hoped for since arriving from Detroit, knocking down shots and running an offense without forcing anything.

That matters more than usual right now because the frontcourt situation is a genuine problem.

Flagg sprained his left shoulder in Friday's win at Indiana and has been upgraded to questionable for Monday. Santi Aldama, Dereck Lively II, Tarik Biberović and Caleb Martin are all still out and have yet to make their season debuts. Naji Marshall is also out with an illness.

That leaves Daniel Gafford and Washington carrying most of the load against Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo. Gafford at least arrives in form, having bounced back Saturday with 12 points, nine rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Nobody stops Antetokounmpo, but Dallas has enough size to make it a grind rather than a layup line.

The matchup waiting on the perimeter is considerably friendlier.

Miami sits at 0-3, and the reason has nothing to do with Antetokounmpo, who has scored 35 and 36 points in two of those games. Davion Mitchell has been the only other player producing, averaging 17.0 points while shooting 46.7% from 3-point range, numbers that would be career highs for a guard known mostly for his defense.

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Nobody else has been able to make a shot. Andrew Wiggins is shooting 18.2% from deep and Tim Hardaway Jr. is at 17.6%, while Adebayo is shooting 23.1% and Antetokounmpo is at 16.7%. Outside of those three, no Miami player is averaging more than 10.3 points per game.

That is a backcourt Dallas can outplay even with a thin one of its own.

Irving is expected back after posting 24 points in Friday's 121-105 win at Indiana. His presence gives Dallas a shot creator Miami has to account for, and if the Heat commit extra attention there, de Larrea and Sasser have already shown what they can do with the space.