The Dallas Mavericks lost the first game of the season on Wednesday night against the Houston Rockets, 128-110. They were trailing by as many as 37 points and only ever held a small lead in the first quarter.
It's all because of a disastrous second quarter in which the Mavs were outscored 38-12, shooting just 4/19 from the field, committing 8 turnovers, and fouling 9 times. They started 6/10 from three in the game, then missed their next 17 attempts from deep.
To say that quarter was a disaster is still putting it lightly. They actually won the final two quarters, but the Rockets were letting off the gas a little.
It was the first real game back for Kyrie Irving, who sounded off about that second quarter after the game.
“The effort, just horrendous. I don’t want to use that graphic word to negatively put it on just one person or even myself," Irving said. "It was a total team effort. We were horrendous defensively, and when you score 12 points in an NBA game, give up 38... It’s going to look like that. It was rough to go through, but I think we needed it.”
— Mike Curtis (@MikeACurtis2) October 22, 2026Kyrie Irving on the Mavs’ 2nd quarter:
“The effort, just horrendous. I don’t want to use that graphic word to negatively put it on just one person or even myself. We were horrendous defensively & when you score 12 points in an NBA game, give up 38…It’s going to look like that.” pic.twitter.com/PWFM31Ctz8
Biggest Issue With Mavs' Second Quarter
This is going to be a learning process for everyone involved. Dusty May has been a head coach before, but not in the NBA.
He was very successful in college, but this is an entirely different game. Even having former head coaches and former players on the staff is still going to make it a steep learning curve.
The biggest issue with the second quarter was that the Mavericks kept trying to make up the deficit with a tough shot rather than just playing their game. Of their 19 shot attempts, 14 came from behind the arc, and they only attempted six free throws.
Bad passes and poor ball-handling were issues, as was transition defense, but a lot of it started from poor shot selection on the offensive end.
They were missing some rotation players, such as Santi Aldama and Dereck Lively II, but the Mavs can't afford to be this bad in most games. It's the NBA; any team can beat you on any given night.
This is just one game out of an 82-game season. There is still plenty of time for things to be corrected moving forward, but the opening stretch of the season is brutal. With games against the Indiana Pacers, San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat, OKC Thunder, and Houston again, it could get worse before it gets better.
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