The Dallas Mavericks entered their preseason finale down their biggest star once again, as Luka Doncic missed the entirety of the preseason with a calf contusion. They were hoping this would be a dress rehearsal for the regular season, but they were down Doncic, Maxi Kleber, Dante Exum, and Kessler Edwards.
Their starting lineup for tonight was Kyrie Irving, Quentin Grimes, Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington, and Daniel Gafford, while the Milwaukee Bucks started A.J. Johnson, Gary Trent Jr., Taurean Prince, Tyler Smith, and Liam Robbins. Damian Lillard, Khris Middleton, Bobby Portis, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Brook Lopez were all unavailable for the game.
It was another slow start offensively without Doncic, starting just 3/10 from the floor. Kyrie Irving’s second three-pointer of the night, a transition pull-up as AJ Johnson left his hand down, gave Dallas a 13-10 lead, their first since the opening minutes. He hit his first three shots and Gafford hit two of his first three, but Thompson, Grimes, and Washington hit none of their first combined eight shots.
By the end of the first quarter, Kyrie Irving had 12 points on a perfect 5/5 from the floor, but the Mavericks were behind 22-21, as the rest of the team shot just 3/16. Milwaukee wasn’t much better, shooting 10/25 from the field and 2/8 from three, but they were moving the ball well to generate open shots.
The second quarter started with a bad Klay Thompson miss, pulling up from just off the elbow and barely hitting the front of the rim. Milwaukee’s pick-and-roll with Pat Connaughton and Anžejs Pasečņiks was giving the Mavs fits, generating open looks and getting downhill with ease. Thompson finally got on the board a few minutes later, hitting a three-pointer to break a shooting slump dating back to last week. He’d then come back down and hit a one-dribble pull-up to give the Mavs a 30-29 lead.
Dallas was able to open up a double-digit lead following some tough baskets from Jaden Hardy and Dereck Lively II, and Klay Thompson was shooting the ball very well, hitting another few three-pointers. A 16-0 run gave the Mavs a 54-36 lead right before halftime before a Connaughton free-throw line pull-up ended the run. Dallas would enter the locker room up 54-38.
Kyrie led the Mavs in scoring in the first half with 14 points, followed by Klay Thompson’s 11. Lively also had a strong first 24 minutes with eight points and seven rebounds.
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