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The Dallas Mavericks missed the services of Luka Doncic in their last game against the Memphis Grizzlies and paid the price by losing to one of the worst teams in the league. This team is set to go up against the OKC Thunder on the tail-end of a back-to-back on Saturday, December 2.
The two teams meet inside the halls of the American Airlines Center with the tip-off commencing at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time. TSN owns the broadcast rights of the game and the same feed can be seen online with an NBA League Pass subscription.
With Luka Doncic out, the team relied heavily on Kyrie Irving to carry the team but he shot only 3-of-15 from the field. Dereck Jones Jr. and Grant Williams led the Mavericks in scoring with 16 points each.
According to the Mavericks injury report, Luka Doncic, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dante Exum are marked as questionable against the Thunder. The three players should be game-time decisions to play.
Maxi Kleber is ruled out and his recovery timeline from a toe injury is by mid-December. Other than those players, everybody, including Kyrie Irving, is cleared to play against the OKC Thunder.
The starting lineup for the Mavericks in their last game was Derick Lively II, Grant Williams and Damon Jones Jr. at the front court. Kyrie Irving was joined by Josh Green, who replaced Luka Doncic temporarily as his backcourt starting tandem.
Jason Kidd rues Dallas Mavericks players for not stepping up with Luka Doncic taking a day off
Luka Doncic was out of the game against the Memphis Grizzlies to attend to the birth of his daughter earlier that day. Without their primary ball handler and scorer, the opportunity to shine was not taken by any player from the Dallas Mavericks roster but instead suffered a humiliating loss.
The starting five only combined for 55 of the 94 total points and the Mavs didn't get much from their bench as well.
"Fifty-five points out of the lineup can put you in harm's way," Dallas coach Jason Kidd said. "Next-man-up didn't quite work tonight. But we're going to learn from that. That was a young group out there."
The only player from the bench to reach double figures was Seth Curry who was able to shoot 5-of-10 from the field to finish with 12 points.
After this match against the OKC Thunder, the team still has another home-court game against the Utah Jazz on December 6.
