Christmas Day is often the merriest day of the year, but for Dallas Mavericks fans it has become a source of frustration.
Last season marked the final Christmas game of Luka Doncic’s career with the franchise. Doncic suffered a calf injury on Christmas and was traded in February.
With Doncic gone, Mavericks fans hoped this holiday season would be different.
It was not.
Mavericks wing Naji Marshall threw a lead pass downcourt to Anthony Davis, but the center slowed before securing the ball. Davis was experiencing muscle spasms in his right groin.
Davis immediately limped to the bench and later went to the locker room after being evaluated. He was ruled out after halftime. Davis missed six weeks last season with a left adductor strain.
With Davis hurting his groin in the second quarter, Dallas fell 126-116 to the Golden State Warriors on Thursday at Chase Center.
Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said he did not have an update on Davis’ right groin spasms after the loss.
“We fought,” Kidd said. “The schedule hasn’t been in our favor. We started this trip on the east coast & now we’re in San Francisco. They got it down to six there for a second and we just weren’t able to rebound the ball. Losing AD definitely hurt when one of our best players goes out, but the next man up & I thought the guys fought.”
This is the Mavericks fifth straight road loss.
During ESPN’s halftime show, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, Ernie Johnson and Shaquille O’Neal discussed the Mavericks’ situation surrounding Davis.
“What are the Mavs gonna do? They’re in trouble now,” Barkley said. “Because it’s clear to me that Anthony Davis, as much as we like him and love him as a player, he’s never gonna be healthy. … They’ve got to make a decision.”
“What would you do?” Smith asked.
“I think I might move on,” Barkley said. “If I was running the team, I’d say, ‘You know what? It’s Cooper’s team now.’”
That assessment may not be far off.
Cooper Flagg, who turned 19 on Dec. 21, finished with 27 points, six rebounds and five assists while being defended by Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler III, both future Hall of Famers.
Flagg consistently hunted favorable matchups against smaller defenders, including Moses Moody, Gary Payton II and Brandin Podziemski. Several times in the second half, he lowered his shoulder and powered his way to the rim for layups or trips to the free-throw line.
He became the first rookie since Pete Maravich (12/25/70) to record 25-5-5 on Christmas Day and joined Maravich and Oscar Robertson overall as the only rookies to do so on Christmas, according to the Mavericks.
Dallas (12-20) pushed Golden State (16-15) in the third quarter behind Brandon Williams, who scored 11 of his 24 points in the period. The surge was not enough to give the Mavericks the lead.
Williams and Max Christie (13 points) combined to score 54 bench points. Dallas made four 3-pointers, while Golden State made 14. The Mavericks were outrebounded 41-49 and outassisted 18-33, factors that contributed to the loss.
“I thought B-Will was great,” Kidd said. “He was attacking and getting to the paint. Finishing, passing, finding guys. His speed was big for us this afternoon. I thought for our group, we missed a lot of layups there in that 1st half & that led to layups on the other end.”
Dallas will look to bounce back Saturday against the Sacramento Kings.
