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The Memphis Grizzlies (22-36) disassembled what was left of the Dallas Mavericks (21-38) on the second night of a back-to-back set on Friday, taking a 124-105 win at American Airlines Center. Cam Spencer led eight Grizzlies in double figures with 25 points on 4-of-8 shooting from 3-point range in the win. Brandon Williams led the Mavericks with 16 points and eight rebounds in the loss. It was, in a word, unwatchable.
The first quarter was exactly as ugly as it felt. Dallas managed just 6-of-24 (25%) shooting and went 2-of-10 from distance, finishing with only 20 points in the frame. The offense had no rhythm whatsoever. Naji Marshall went 0-for-4, Max Christie went 0-for-4, and the Mavericks could not generate clean half-court looks. Even the makes felt scattered rather than sustainable. Williams and Khris Middleton did what little damage the Mavs could manage. Middleton went 2-of-6 for five points, while Williams added five of his own on 2-of-4 shooting. It was slow, disjointed, and offensively painful to watch, and the 20-point output reflected exactly how stagnant the opening twelve minutes were.
The second quarter did not fix anything. Dallas had just 30 total points through 18 minutes and made only two field goals in the first half of the period, while Memphis feasted on open 3-pointers and layups. By halftime, the numbers showed the gap. Memphis shot 50.0 percent from the field and 7-of-19 from 3-point land, while Dallas managed just 33.3 percent overall and 3-of-15 from deep. The Grizzlies moved the ball for 15 assists and consistently generated clean looks. At the same time, the Mavericks’ halfended the same way it began, with turnovers and empty possessions piling up, sending Dallas into the break trailing 64–44.
Dallas couldn’t make a game of it in the second half, either. The Mavericks came out of halftime stuck in the mud again. Memphis continued to generate clean looks while the Mavericks’ offense stayed shaky. The third quarter was more of the same script as the second: Memphis kept getting downhill, turning broken Dallas possessions into easy chances, and the lead kept creeping wider, swelling as large as 34 points.
Memphis managed their blowout in-hand throughout the fourth, while Dallas tried to find anything functional with its bench unit. The Grizzlies stayed comfortable, kept scoring at the rim, and kept winning the possession game with rebounds and extra chances, while the Mavericks traded isolated buckets for empty trips. Dallas did get some late interior scoring and effort plays, but by then the margin was already massive, and Memphis never let it get interesting. In the end, the second half felt like a continuation of the first, just with the deficit growing from bad to out of reach.
Two important losses
The Mavericks are in the part of the calendar where “watchability” stops being the point and lottery balls take over. If Dallas is serious about landing the best pick it can get in June’s NBA Draft, you do not get there by stealing feel-good wins in late February. You get there by banking losses, stacking ping pong ball combinations, and minimizing the nights where you accidentally look competent because one role player got hot.
The urgency is amplified by what Dallas does and does not control going forward. The franchise already owes Charlotte a 2027 first-round pick that is only top-two protected, which means the moment Dallas is merely bad instead of atrocious, that pick is gone. Beyond that, the pick sheet is littered with swaps and obligations in the late 2020s, which is why every season where Dallas actually has a clean shot at a premium pick feels like a rare window. In plain terms, you cannot afford to waste the years where you still own your own outcome, because the bill comes due later.
That is why nights like this, back to back, where half the roster sits, and the remaining starters play 20 to 25 minutes, are not just “embarrassing losses.” They are a front office choosing the only path that realistically matters. Dallas is not one hot streak away from a title, and pretending otherwise drags you toward the worst possible place in the NBA, the middle, where you pick 10th, pay veterans, and pray for miracles. The Mavericks do not need moral victories. They need lottery leverage because the next cornerstone after Cooper is far more likely to arrive via a top pick than via internal development from a patchwork roster. In a season like this, the tank is not a vibe. It is the plan.
The Mavericks need shooting
The Grizzlies did not just beat Dallas; they shot them out of the AAC. Memphis spaced the floor, forced weak closeouts, and punished every late rotation with confident catch-and-shoot threes. When a team is already playing downhill and getting paint touches, the difference between a competitive game and a runaway is whether those kickouts fall. They did. The Mavericks were constantly in scramble mode, and every time they collapsed to stop a drive, the ball found an open shooter who was ready and willing. That is what real spacing does. It turns decent offense into efficient offense and efficient offense into a blowout.
That is the lesson Dallas needs to internalize heading into the offseason, especially if Cooper Flagg is the centerpiece of the rebuild. Flagg’s value will be maximized by driving lanes, short-roll playmaking, and the ability to attack tilted defenses. None of that works if defenders can sit in the gaps and ignore weak-side shooters. The Mavericks cannot half-commit to spacing around him. They need legitimate movement shooters, reliable corner threats, and frontcourt players who can stretch the floor just enough to keep help honest. If this season is about lottery positioning, this summer has to be about shooting infrastructure. Build it correctly, and Flagg elevates everyone. Ignore it, and you are asking a young star to score through traffic every night.