Mavericks inefficiency, poor shooting – Mavs Moneyball

Through five games, the Dallas Mavericks hold a 3-2 record and the sixth seed in the Western Conference (which matches the record of the fifth-seeded Houston Rockets and the seventh-seeded Sacramento Kings). Earlier in the season, the Mavs took care of business against the San Antonio Spurs, got a big road win against the Minnesota Timberwolves and defeated the Utah Jazz. They suffered a needless loss to the Phoenix Suns, playing for the second night in a row, without Bradley Beal and a no-show for virtually three quarters against the Rockets.

The team is still working on rotations and chemistry early in the season, as expected after Luka Doncic and other key players missed time in the preseason. Still, to the naked eye, the Mavs generally appear to be inefficient in their scoring. Somehow, the lob game that was a staple on the road to the NBA Finals last season has all but disappeared. Multiple alley-oop plays seem hard to come by, and despite adding one of the deadliest three-point shooters in NBA history and other players who target open shots, the team has had consistently poor shooting nights .

Everything can seem magnified this early in the season. So the question arises: Do the numbers match what the optics suggest? Let’s find out (spoiler alert: they do).

Free throw percentage

Mavericks Average: 76.0%

League average: 77.3%

– 1.3%

Three-point FG percentage

Mavericks average: 35.8%

League average: 35.7%

+0.1%

Two-point FG percentage

Mavericks average: 49.8%

League average: 53.4%

-3.6%

Total FG percentage

Mavericks average: 44.0%

League average: 46.0%

-2.0%

Aside from being very average beyond the arc, the Mavericks are below league average in every other shooting category. Unsurprisingly, this is due to the struggles of some key players at the start of the season. The Snake’s leader, Luka Doncic, has a 38.7% shooting percentage overall and an impressive 29.2% shooting percentage from three-pointers, the latter of which comes from back-to-back performances of 1-for-9 and 1-for-8 from beyond the arc Arch was pulled into the abyss. While Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson have more favorable averages, players like PJ Washington, Quentin Grimes and Naji Marshall have not reached the open three at an efficient pace. Washington is shooting 25.0% from three (and from the free throw line), Grimes is 33.3% from three, and Marshall hasn’t hit a three-pointer on seven attempts. Combined, these three players are 9-for-40 this season, an average of 22.5%. The team’s three primary 3-and-D players will need to convert at a much higher rate if this offense is to reach its peak. If they had hit the same league average (35.7%) so far, they would have made five more three-pointers this season. It may not seem like much, but these shots made over the course of a game keep the defense honest and create opportunities for others, thus increasing a team’s overall efficiency.

It’s still early and the Mavs still have four games left, with their next game being tomorrow night against the Orlando Magic. The Magic will be without Paulo Banchero after an untimely oblique injury and will hopefully come out of the team much more engaged than they were against the Rockets. Maybe some home cooking will get the team on the right track.