The Dallas Mavericks summer league team suffered a 108-88 defeat to the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night in Las Vegas, but the game wasn't as close as the score would suggest.
The game was never going to be a sure thing as Dallas fell behind 25-4 in the opening minutes of the first quarter and never recovered. The Mavericks played one of the sloppiest games in Summer League history, giving up 36 points to Memphis on an astonishing 27 turnovers.
The Grizzlies' relentless ball pressure was no match for the Mavericks' dominant guards, who kept denying the ball at almost every opportunity. From there, the Grizzlies dominated in transition and scored 58 points in the paint. Memphis forward GG Jackson led all scorers with 23 points, while Dallas forward Olivier Maxence Prosper led the Mavericks with 16 points.
Dallas fell to 0-2 in Las Vegas, while Memphis improved to 2-0. The Mavericks have another chance.
This is terrible
I've seen a lot of Summer League games and I've seen a lot of sloppy, disorganized basketball. That's the nature of a team filled with rookies, young players and journeymen trying to find their place in their professional careers. Even with all of those qualifiers, this Mavericks loss may have been one of the ugliest Summer League performances I've ever seen.
As mentioned, the team was down 25-4 in the first quarter and didn't get any better after that. The Mavericks literally couldn't dribble the ball and were committing turnovers. The first half looked like a Globetrotters game, with the Grizzlies going for an alley-oop almost every time. With about 2 minutes left in the third quarter, the score was 80-46, and the Mavericks had 23 turnovers and only 17 field goals.
Dallas picked up a bit in the fourth quarter and looked passable, making more field goals than turnovers, but the Mavericks finished with 27 turnovers. Memphis has a talented summer league roster and features NBA contributors GG Jackson and Scottie Pippen Jr. in the starting lineup, but this…WeftIt was painful to watch.
More struggles for O-Max
Olivier Maxence Prosper scored just 11 points on 2-of-10 shooting in the Mavericks' first Summer League game on Friday, but he improved against the Grizzlies. But it was still a tough game for last summer's first-round pick.
Propser led the team with 16 points, but struggled again, making just 6 of 14 field goal attempts. He made just 1 of 6 in the first half, scoring just two points, and struggled until garbage time in the fourth quarter, which was 75% of the game. Propser made three straight shots in the fourth quarter to get back on the shooting line, but still looked a bit out of it.
Thankfully for the Mavericks, his engine never slowed down. Propser played hard and still shows glimpses of his potential to be a great defender, but his offense just isn't suited to summer league, where he has to take shots he'll never make in the NBA. Propser made two three-pointers in the game, going 2-of-4 from three. Look for Propser to continue his development in the next game.
We are all struggling
Speaking of struggles… have you seen Mavs Moneyball lately? Just kidding. But if you take a quick look at the homepage of our website, you'll notice that the content isn't flowing as it usually does. And those brutal Summer League games definitely aren't helping.
It's been a long season for our staff, including an NBA Finals appearance that was, frankly, unexpected. Most of our senior staff and editors are too old to blog as a side hustle or hobby (raise your hand!). We put all our energy into covering the playoffs, and I think most of us were a little worn out after the Finals were over. We just didn't have the energy.
To be honest, I can't recommend that you continue to watch the Mavericks' summer league without any guilty conscience. With Dallas' roster locked in as a championship contender, there's not much room for these players to contribute at the NBA level, especially if Prosper plays well. NBA championship contenders don't usually need their summer league stars to give them minutes during the regular season. So this isn't to disrespect these players or the construction of the Mavericks' roster. On the contrary, Dallas has done so well with NBA roster construction over the past 18 months that summer league has become a quaint luxury.
Let's find some time to recharge before the actual games start up again in a few months. October isn't that far away! Of course, I'll still be writing about these games (unless I forget), and I'll try to get the content machine going in earnest before the summer is over. Sorry for the short break, I'll be back at full speed soon. Or just keep watching the Summer League games, because you're a real pervert. I don't blame you for being a pervert.
