Mavericks vs. Magic Preview: 3 Thoughts as Dallas Hosts Orlando

The Dallas Mavericks (3-2) host the Orlando Magic (3-3) for an early Sunday night game at the American Airlines Center. Dallas is coming off an upset loss to the Houston Rockets on Halloween, where they were down 20 points for much of the contest. They had two days to stew after putting together a rally in which they played some defense but still came up short. The Magic are floundering a bit; After star Paulo Banchero had a career night against the Indiana Pacers, Orlando fell to the Chicago Bulls, lost Banchero to injury for an unknown amount of time, and was then beaten by the league-leading Cleveland Cavaliers. Here are some thoughts before the game:

Will MVP Luka Doncic be there?

A variation of this question is asked before every game until Doncic puts in a performance that reflects his status in the league. Doncic shot 6 of 17 against Houston until he turned things around with a strong shooting performance and finished the game with 6 of 8 goals.

What I would like to see is if Doncic actually finished the paint job. Outside of the restricted area, he shoots 40% in the paint, up from 55% last year. That pretty much explains everything you see on TV that makes you groan whenever another Doncic attempt starts. They will fall, it's a matter of when. Maybe not against a long, sweeping Magic defense.

Can the Mavericks protect anyone?

Part of what has killed the Mavericks when they look sloppy is that their man defense is very undisciplined, almost man-like. They are beaten by any ballplayer's first dribble move, which sets the rest of the defense in rotation. Against the Rockets, it put the big men in a position to call cheap fouls. Jason Kidd had this to say about the defense yesterday: “Some of it is wide ranging. Some of this may not be in the right position, but it's early days. Just being able to understand it and see it on tape and talk about it and address it.”

We saw what can happen when the defense holds on, which eventually happened in the fourth quarter. The Rockets hit some tough shots to put Dallas away, but you could see the vision of what Dallas wanted to accomplish.

Check the glass

The Rockets punished Dallas on the glass and grabbed a whopping 18 offensive boards. Luckily for Dallas, offensive rating is far less of a priority for the Magic, as they average just under 10 per game and rank in the bottom half of the league in scoring chances. The Mavericks rank seventh in the league in offensive rebounds per game and it will be worth watching to see if they get any extra opportunities against a big Magic team.

Dallas needs to put emphasis on actual boxing out. While we're here, I'd like to see Dereck Lively do well, especially on defense.

Here's how to watch

This movie might be a little difficult to watch since it's only on Channel 29 and MavsTV (and NBA League Pass if you're not in the market).