For more than three quarters Sunday, the Mavericks played exactly the kind of basketball they needed to in the absence of Luka Donu010diu0107 and Kyrie Irving.
They followed up that stretch of smart, hustling play with 12 minutes of the worst kind of basketball they can play – particularly while missing their two superstars. It resulted in a 112-101 loss to the Denver Nuggets.
Leading by as much as 19 points late in the third quarter, and by 12 early in the fourth, the Mavericks got swamped by the Denver Nuggets, who won the final quarter 33-12.