HOUSTON – The injury bug bit the Dallas Mavericks – again – Wednesday night.
This time it was forward PJ Washington who suffered an injury due to a sprained right knee in the first half of the game against the Houston Rockets and did not return. Washington's injury was part of what plagued the Mavs in their 110-99 loss to the Rockets at Toyota Center.
It was the fourth loss in the last five games for the Mavs, who finished this week-long road trip with a 1-3 record and will take their overall score of 20-14 into the game at Friday's home game against the high-flying Cleveland Cavaliers.
Quentin Grimes led the Mavs with 17 points and five rebounds, and Kyrie Irving finished with 16 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Also for the Mavs, Klay Thompson had 16 points and five rebounds, and Jaden Hardy had 11 points.
Alperen Sengun and Jalen Green led the Rockets (22-11) with 23 and 22 points, respectively, Dillon Brooks scored 19 points, Cam Whitmore had 18 points and Jabari Smith Jr. added 12 points.
Washington joined Luka Dončić (left calf strain) and Dante Exum (right wrist surgery) on the Mavs' roster who are now nursing an injury. But even before Washington was ruled out of Wednesday's game, the Rockets were gaining the upper hand over the Mavs.
Thanks to 16 points from Green, 13 from Whitmore and 11 each from Brooks and Sengun, the Rockets took a 61-52 halftime lead. That lead grew to 17 in the third quarter and 18 (104-86) with 6:50 left after a three-pointer by Whitmore.
After the Mavs trailed the Rockets 55-52, Houston reeled off the final six points of the second quarter to take a nine-point halftime lead. And as the Mavs continued to turn the ball over, the Rockets built their lead to 86-69 with 2:52 left in the third quarter following a three-point basket by Jae'Sean Tate.
Thompson scored eight points early, and a Washington jumper put the Mavs up 16-6 with 7:22 left in the first quarter. Then, the game turned in favor of the Rockets as Houston dominated Dallas, 37-22, in the second quarter.
“We kind of stopped playing the basketball we played in the first quarter,” Grimes said. “We managed to stop playing easy basketball.”
Yet with the absence of Naji Marshall – he is serving a four-game suspension by the NBA for his involvement in last Friday's brawl in Phoenix – Doncic, Exum and Washington in the second half of Wednesday's game, Grimes refused to making excuses for the Mavs.
“It's easy to make excuses for things like that, but we know we have more than enough to go out there and win games we should have won,” he said. “We should have had the one in Portland (last Saturday), we should have had the one in Sacramento (last Monday) and we definitely should have had the one tonight.
“So we just have to come together and watch film knowing that we don't have the guys that we usually have, be healthy, be more disciplined and just take care of the ball. But it's tough when you don't have some of the guys you're used to playing with, but that's been the name of the game all season.
X : @DwainPrice
