A palming violation, a travel, a ball lost out of bounds and an offensive foul. That is one way to watch the Mavericks’ first quarter against Brooklyn. There’s a more cheerful version with Cooper Flagg putting points on the board, but both versions happened at American Airlines Center.
Dallas turned the ball over 21 times Sunday and won 130-93. Nobody should have to choose which part of that result to believe.
The mistakes were there before the score made them harmless. Flagg was called for palming at 7:15 of the opening quarter. Daniel Gafford traveled later in the period.
Kyrie Irving lost the ball out of bounds with less than a minute left, and an offensive foul on Flagg cost Dallas another possession in the closing seconds. It was still a six-point game at the time of that last giveaway. The Mavericks were going to have to earn a comfortable lead before they could afford to look this untidy.
They did. Dallas scored 33 points in the first quarter and another 33 in the second. A team with a hot hand can make up for a lost possession by getting a basket on the next trip.
The Mavericks got that help from more than one player and from more than one part of the floor. They made 34 of 49 two-point attempts and hit 14 threes. Gafford made seven of his eight shots, while Flagg and Irving scored 25 and 21, respectively.
When the ball stayed with Dallas long enough for someone to shoot it, Brooklyn had a much bigger problem.
There was another way for Dallas to make a possession last. The Mavericks took 12 offensive rebounds and finished with 46 boards to Brooklyn’s 30. Those extra chances helped a team that had spent too many trips failing to get a first shot at all.
The Nets did collect 10 offensive rebounds of their own. They still shot 31 for 80, including 11 for 39 from deep. Good work on the glass can extend a night like that; it can’t make enough of the resulting shots go in.
Brooklyn also turned it over 17 times. For all the chances Dallas offered, the Nets had plenty of possessions that came to an early end themselves. Walter Clayton Jr. stole a bad pass in the second quarter and gave the ball back with a bad pass of his own a few seconds later.
