'It's embarrassing': Mavericks left looking for answers after another mystifying home loss vs. the Jazz - The Dallas Morning News

From a 23-point first-half deficit, the Mavericks finally stormed back Monday night, albeit ultimately in a losing cause, 123-119 to Utah.

Perhaps the awakening derived from exasperation, of laying another early egg at home, in a pivotal playoff-positioning matchup. Or maybe it was the embarrassment of getting outrebounded as a team in the opening two quarters, 13-12, by Rudy Gobert. Yes, the individual.

Whatever catalyst the Mavericks used to finally show they cared -- and give American Airlines Center fans reason to cheer --they need to seize upon it in home games going forward. Otherwise, a season that has had the makings of being special, will turn out like Monday night.

Unsatisfying.

So what sparked the turnaround?

“Coach getting on our ass,” guard Tim Hardaway Jr. said. “Point-blank.”

It’s difficult to imagine coach Rick Carlisle having to light into his team before every home game, but desperate times . . .

How desperate? With a chance to close within two games in the loss column of fourth-place Utah (35-18) in the Western Conference, the Mavericks (32-22) showed no sense of urgency to start Monday’s game.

They stumbled to their third loss in the last four home games. They are 14-14 at home and 18-8 on the road. Two of their last three home losses -- 121-107 to Memphis and 133-104 against Phoenix – were blowouts, and this one was headed that way, as well.

Nevermind that Luka Doncic missed his seventh straight game. He’s missed road games, too, and effort hasn’t been a problem there.

“Whatever we’ve got to do to prepare us like we’re on the road, we’ve got to bring that to our homecourt, man,” Hardaway said. “It’s embarrassing. And we all know that.

“Everybody’s got to get their minds and bodies right to come out here and compete for 48 (minutes), and we’re not doing that at home. But when we’re on the road we get the job done the majority of the time.”

Yes, the Mavericks rallied from a 71-50 halftime deficit to pull within 83-80. Then after falling behind by 19 midway through the fourth quarter, the closed within 119-114 on a Seth Curry 3-pointer with 2:41 left. This game was lost in the first half, and everyone in the Mavs’ locker room knew it.

“Very, very poor performance in the first half,” Carlisle said. “The defense was terrible.

“Second half obviously was much better, but the biggest symptom of our problems at home is our starts to games. And tonight we just didn’t get there.”

Another mystifying home performance, this time against a Jazz team that was coming off an emotional, one-point win at Houston on Sunday night.

Utah had every reason to come out flat, but it was the Jazz who shot a blistering 61% (25-of-41) from the field in the first half.

“Disposition, effort and everything in the first half was very bad,” Carlisle said.

But don’t blame the home crowd, at least not on this night. Hardaway noted how great the crowd was during the second half rally.

“We’ve got to give our home crowd something to cheer about,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that we haven’t been able to do that on a consistent basis.

“We know how loud this arena gets. We heard it in spurts today, when we were out here competing and playing hard. We’ve just got to do that for the whole 48.”

The Mavericks have one game left before the All-Star break. Perhaps unfortunately for them, it’s at home, against Sacramento on Wednesday.

NBA teams often refer to this time of season as the dog days, especially the final days leading into a week-long All-Star break, with visions of beached perhaps playing in some players’ mind.

Carlisle was asked if his team is running on fumes.

“I think the team’s got plenty of energy,” Carlisle said. “I don’t buy into that. I’m not giving in to that. We’re professionals and, hey, our job is to come out here and compete.

“We did a hell of a job of competing in the second half and a very poor job in the first half.”

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