HOUSTON — Late in the first quarter of his Dallas Mavericks debut on Feb. 8, Anthony Davis drove at Houston Rockets center Alperen Şengün but shot long. In the process, Davis knocked Şengün under the basket and jammed a put-back over him.
“I’m here!” Davis yelled to the home crowd.
Two quarters later, Davis was gone. A left adductor strain forced him to exit the game early.
Friday, the Mavericks faced the Rockets for the first time since Davis’ injury. This time, Houston flipped the script and dominated the interior battle in a 133-96 rout at Toyota Center. The Mavericks were nearly doubled in the rebounding department (67-34) and allowed 68 points in the paint.
Dallas (33-35) is 5-10 since Davis got hurt. The Mavericks are still in position to make the Play-In Tournament and holding on to the 10th spot in the Western Conference standings (1 1/2 games ahead of the Phoenix Suns), but they are running low on healthy bodies with roughly a month remaining in the regular season. The Mavericks had nine healthy players at the start of Friday’s game.
They ended the night with eight healthy players. Guard Danté Exum broke his hand in the second quarter. Exum missed the first 48 games of the season with a right wrist injury. He is unlikely to play again this year.
After the game, Mavericks coach Jason Kidd was asked if he’s ever witnessed anything like the plague of injuries his team has suffered this season.
“No one has,” Kidd said.
Dereck Lively II didn’t play in Dallas’ Feb. 8 game against Houston, but otherwise, the Mavericks then were at full strength. They started Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford. Dallas blocked 18 shots that afternoon, a franchise record and five more than it has recorded in any other game this season.
Friday, Thompson was the only Mavericks player remaining from that February starting lineup against Houston. The game started to get lopsided in the second quarter, and it turned into a blowout in the second half. The Rockets led by as many as 40 points.
Exum started at point guard. He subbed out at the 6:47 mark of the second quarter and walked back to the locker room. Medical imaging revealed more bad news.
The Mavericks — losers in seven of their last eight games — barely have been able to field a team for much of March. Dwight Powell, Dallas’ only healthy center, played in the team’s three-game trip with stitches in his forehead after he collided with teammate Kessler Edwards on Sunday. Lively (right ankle stress fracture) last played Jan. 14. Gafford (right knee sprain) has been sidelined since Feb. 10. Washington and Jaden Hardy have been sidelined for much of this month with ankle injuries.
“We are playing with basically no bigs,” Mavericks forward Naji Marshall said. “A lot of us are 6-7, 6-6 out there. Şengün is an All-Star big. Other guys are 6-10. We are trying our hardest. With what we are doing right now, we have to get through it.”
Kessler Edwards drives to the rim against Houston Rockets guard Nate Williams during the second half at Toyota Center. (Thomas Shea / Imagn Images)
When the Mavericks traded Luka Dončić for Davis in early February, general manager Nico Harrison said he believed “defense wins championships.” The Mavericks wanted to mimic the title-winning 2020 Los Angeles Lakers team, which often deployed Davis at power forward next to another 7-footer. Dallas’ Monstars-sized lineup looked formidable in the 2 1/2 quarters before Davis got hurt.
“That’s the way we would like to be: the ability to protect the paint and get out and run,” Kidd said Friday. “You saw A.D. behind the arc and in the post, being able to playmake off the dribble. Hopefully, that’s the way it is once we’re healthy.”
Unfortunately, the Mavericks won’t be fully healthy again this season. They won’t be healthy at the start of next season, either. Irving tore the ACL in his left knee on March 3. The typical recovery timetable is nine to 12 months.
The Mavericks looked like they had the potential to be a dominant defensive team in the one game Davis played. Injuries — at least this season — have made it impossible to know if they actually could have been.
The Dallas team that faced Houston on Friday was a shell of the team that beat the Rockets five weeks ago. The Mavericks might still be a part of the postseason this spring, but they won’t be whole.
(Top photo: Ronald Cortes / Getty Images)
