The Dallas Mavericks hosted the Boston Celtics Tuesday night. With no one curiously resting less than 48-hours before the trade deadline, Dallas was unable to get the win, dropping a 110-100 contest to push their losing streak to a season high five games.
Let’s get to the grades!
Naji Marshall: C
9 PTS / 8 REB / 3 AST / 0 STL / 0 BLK - 31 MIN
Marshall shooting less than 60% from the field is almost shocking, but he’s strung together a couple of stinkers recently. Tonight just wasn’t pretty, with poor shooting being the biggest blemish. Solid rebounding buoyed him slightly, but there wasn’t much else to write home about.
Max Christie: C
10 PTS / 2 REB / 3 AST / 1 STL / 0 BLK - 30 MIN
Christie’s shot has not been falling quite as consistently of late. Sometimes they just aren’t going to drop, but it would be great to see him camp out at the three-point line a bit less. His best stretch of the season came when he was doing a bit of everything, so he will hopefully get back to slashing and shooting some mid-range shots.
Cooper Flagg: A
36 PTS / 9 REB / 6 AST / 0 STL / 2 BLK - 37 MIN
Flagg did it all Tuesday night, pouring in a ton of points, drawing fouls, shooting a high percentage and taking care of the ball. With the absence of Anthony Davis, Flagg is the clear cut number one and is making the most of the opportunity. Excellent all-around game.
Caleb Martin: B
13 PTS / 6 REB / 3 AST / 0 STL / 0 BLK - 29 MIN
Martin had a quietly good game, hitting 50% on 10 shots and chipping in some boards and assists. While not spectacular, he was efficient and didn’t turn the ball over.
Daniel Gafford: A-
10 PTS / 12 REB / 1 AST / 1 STL / 2 BLK - 25 MIN
Gafford missed a chunk of gametime after sustaining an ankle injury in the second quarter, but managed a solid game in somewhat truncated minutes. I have to remind myself that Gafford is an ideal backup playing as a starter. With that in mind, a double-double and returning from an injury he gets a boost on his grade.
Klay Thompson: C-
4 PTS / 0 REB / 1 AST / 0 STL / 0 BLK - 20 MIN
Thompson was largely absent from this one, and landing in the Grades-basement would not have been off the mark, but perhaps I’m irrationally generous? He couldn’t hit his shots and really just couldn’t stay on the floor.
Final Thoughts
Dallas looked like they were going to give us a show, but after the first quarter, were largely outplayed. Falling down by more than 20 points, they eventually made a bit of a run to keep things interesting, but you never quite felt like they’d make a real run given the poor shooting of too many starter.
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