Player Grades: Recapping the Dallas Mavericks’ 122-120 loss against the Denver Nuggets

The Dallas Mavericks wanted to bounce back after that showing against the Suns two days ago. Unfortunately, they didn’t make that happen

They faced off against the Denver Nuggets, and lost a nail biter, 122-120.

Some players performed exceptional and admiral to keep the game close. Some… didn’t. With that, here is everyone’s grades for their latest game.

Luka Dončić: B

24 points, 9 assists, 9 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block

Luka played alright, on both ends. He did a lot of complaining, and turned over the ball quite a bit.

He was decent from the field, but was a step slow. He also continued a trend of not making his threes. He dished the rock and got everyone involved the way he normally does, but that’s just it: He was normal. And in a game as close as this one, maybe a few more Luka-esque plays would have made a difference.

Kyrie Irving: A+

43 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block

Kyrie did more than what was needed from him. He went crazy efficient from the field, and only took rhythm shots within the offense. He led the Mavs today as the leading scorer, and his shot attempts will tell you why. He never forced anything, didn’t take more shots than he had to, and almost made the shots he did take count. The two misses from three in the clutch hurt, but that’s nitpicking in what was an otherwise awesome performance by Kyrie to keep the game as close as it was.

Klay Thompson: C+

10 points, 4 assists, 5 rebounds

Klay wasn’t the best. He was brought in to shoot and make threes, but didn’t do much of either. He made one three in the fourth quarter, but the team needed more than that to escape with a win this time. A slightly higher efficiency or a few forced turnovers could have made the difference, but there’s no point in complaining too much about the past.

Naji Marshall: B

11 points, 8 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block

Naji did as much as he could on the defensive end, putting up with Jokić for as long as he did. He also had some nice plays on the offensive end. He did as much as he could, but him and Gafford’s combined 15 total rebounds just don’t matchup to Jokić’s 18 rebounds.

Daniel Gafford: A-

16 points, 3 assists, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks

Gafford did exactly what he was supposed to do on the court today, giving him his grade. He was almost perfect from the field, and deterred the post as well as he did. Again, he just couldn’t keep Jokić from gaining eight offensive rebounds. The four stocks (steals plus blocks) helped his case, but his foul trouble forced him to play passive in the final minutes, and those final minutes were when everything went sideways.

Dwight Powell: B+

7 points, 1 assist, 5 rebounds, 1 steal

With Dereck Lively still out, Powell ate up most of the backup center minutes. He played well, making most of his free throws and playing defense. He was solid for the 14 minutes he was asked to play, and barely held his own against Jokić enough to earn himself a B+.

Olivier-Maxence Prosper: C

2 points, 1 rebound

Prosper didn’t do much. He got playing time, but this wasn’t a game for him to be able to make mistakes and learn from them. He was promptly taken out to never be put in again for the rest of the game.

Spencer Dinwiddie: C+

5 points, 4 assists

Dinwiddie wasn’t very efficient, and overall didn’t played his best basketball today. For 20 minutes on the court, one maybe would have wanted to see a few shots go down and 10 points in the stat sheet for our veteran point guard. Unfortunately, it wasn’t for today.

Jaden Hardy: C-

2 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steal

From the stat sheet, Dinwiddie and Hardy look somewhat similar. However, in game Hardy just didn’t make good plays, and took shots he had no business taking, going 1-for-7 in his 18 minutes.

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