Why are the Mavericks off to a slow start this season

[Street Hunger]

The Mavericks went to the finals last year but no one really predicted that, and during the season they were a very good but not a particularly great team. They stepped up in the playoffs.

It's early but the season they've taken a step back even from last regular season. Why?

[sdot_thadon]

Defense. And a handful of close games not going their way that would flip that narrative completely.

[ArbitraryWater]

lost 4 games by a shot just about.

Is a slow start team i guess.

[Neal Romer]

Luka's been in a shooting slump for the entire start of the season pretty much. And even still, as mentioned above they lost like four straight games on a final possession.

I mean normally I would say it really doesnt matter, we already know what Kyrie and Luka can do once they get to the playoffs... but theyre gonna actually need a lot of wins just to make the playoffs in the West. It's crazy stacked and there are gonna be some disappointed teams. Even if theyre not worried about home court, they cant afford to drop too many games. Especially to teams like the Jazz. If one of their main guys ends up having to miss some games later in the season and theyre already behind in the W-L column that could be it.

Luka needs to drink some RedBull before every game. I get that you could coast to the playoffs in some of the older Western Conference scenes. But not in Lebron's Western Conference. The road is just too damn hard.

[90sgoat]

They always seem to start slow and have new players, which will find their niche, but they lost one of their good defensive players.

I also don't like how Gafford is still starting.

They'll be fine come the playoffs, but they might make some trades and I think they should, the new pickups don't seem like they're moving the needle, except for hopefully Klay.

[bdonovan]

The reason is that Marc Cuban's Mavs win because of both offense and defense, but then he undervalues defense and gets rid of key personnel. Long ago, Mavs won the ring with Nowizki but they also had Tyson Chandler. Cuban let Chandler go, their defense suffered, they didn't win again.

Derrick Jones Jr was the best defender. They made it to the finals. They let him go. Their defense is not great this year. They've dropped 5 places on defense.

Klay has not been a great addition- 37.4% 3 pt%, league average is 36.5%. If you're a 3 pt specialist, and you're shooting at roughly the average, not great.

[ImKobe]

Luka is underperforming on both ends and their defense overall just isn't as good as it was last year.

[Axe]

Luka is underperforming on both ends and their defense overall just isn't as good as it was last year.

Have you seen him pausing for a while during a john collins dunk in the closing moments of the game?

[ImKobe]

Have you seen him pausing for a while during a john collins dunk in the closing moments of the game?

Just looks like a mental error. They had so much time to set up their defense too.