The Mavericks lose to the Bucks, struggling to recover their poise after a blistering start.

Dallas — The most terrifying incident during the Dallas Mavericks’ 1–0 defeat to the Milwaukee Bucks at American Airlines Center on Saturday occurred in the opening quarter when Luka Doncic struggled with Giannis Antetokounmpo for a stray ball, grasped his right ankle, and staggered into the locker room.

Over the course of the following few quarters, the worst moment or moments, as it were, emerged in waves.

The good news is that Doncic made a strong comeback to the floor minutes after his injury scare. He appeared healthy and finished with a game that was nearly a triple-double: 40 points, 11 assists, and 9 rebounds. The bad news is that, despite having a significant lead, he and the Mavericks defense were unable to stop the third-ranked offense in the NBA.

In the first half, the Mavericks’ lead reached up to 25 points. 129-117 was their double-digit loss.

Bad.

Milwaukee’s coach, Jason Kidd, remarked, “They just kept playing and took our best shot there in the first half.” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd

Regarding the first half, Dallas jumped out to a 24-point lead thanks to a very hot start from three-point range. Josh Green and Maxi Kleber combined for four of the Mavericks’ opening eight 3-pointers, which they made seven of. Doncic scored eight points on his first three offensive possessions after returning from the locker room three minutes later. He concluded the first quarter with 14 points. Doncic departed the court at 6:27.

However, the Mavericks’ scorching shooting significantly cooled in the third, fourth, and second quarters. Likewise, their defense did.

After starting the game 7 for 8, Dallas shot just 9 for 31 (or 29%) from 3-point range. As a result, Dallas committed more turnovers—four in the second quarter and nine in the third—and Milwaukee had a chance to get back into the game. The Mavericks’ offense stagnated and they only scored 21 points in the second quarter. Milwaukee made 67% of its shots from the second to the third quarter, but only 33% of its shots in the first quarter.

Kleber stated, “We had to hold onto the lead since we started pretty hot in the first quarter then cooled down in the second.” “In the first, we made shots, and we still received stops.” In the second quarter, we didn’t.

In order to change the game’s momentum, the Bucks took advantage of self-inflicted injuries on Dallas in the closing minutes of the first half, finished the second quarter on a 15-0 run, and trailed by just five points at the half.

Doncic — unhappy with a non-call on the offensive end — jawed with an official on his way back up the court, was called for a take foul on a driving Antetokounmpo and then for a technical foul after he continued to exchange words with the referee. Damian Lillard made both the technical free throw and the free throw for Doncic’s take foul. The Bucks got the ball back after the free throws because of the technical and the possession ended with an AJ Green corner 3-pointer. Lillard, after a missed Doncic floater, hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to close the half.

“Our composure,” Kidd said. “We have to be better.”

Kidd said pregame that, in an effort to reduce the team’s reliance on Doncic, they need more output from role players. Dallas got that in droves vs. Milwaukee: Maxi Kleber scored a season-high 21 points, his highest-scoring output since Game 2 of the Western Conference first round against the Utah Jazz on April 18, 2022; Josh Green finished with 20 points and 9 rebounds, and Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 18 points off the bench.

But the Bucks’ two superstars Antetokounmpo (48 points, 10 assists) and Lillard (30 points, 8 assists) were just a bit better, and Milwaukee — after a tepid first quarter — scored a combined 73 points in the second and third quarters to entirely vaporize what had been one of the Mavericks’ best starts to a game this season.

“You can be in a bad place when Giannis goes 20 for 28 and Dame only misses one shot,” Kidd remarked. “Those men exploited that situation.”

Milwaukee went on a 23-10 run to start the third quarter, went up 78-75 with a 3-pointer from Khris Middleton with 6:08 remaining in the half, pulled ahead by as much as eight points in the quarter, and led 93-92 going into the fourth. With two minutes remaining in the game, the Mavericks were behind by 12 points and had never held a lead in the fourth quarter.

“They kept their composure, played the right way, played hard, made a bunch of tough shots,” Kleber said. “We’ve just got to be better than that.”

The Mavericks were without Kyrie Irving (right thumb sprain), Dante Exum (right knee soreness) and Dereck Lively II (fractured nose). Their starting lineup — Doncic, Green, Kleber, Derrick Jones Jr. and Grant Williams — had shared the court for a total of five minutes this season prior to Saturday’s game.

Kidd said that Irving has had two good days of practice and that he’d hopefully be available on Dallas’ upcoming east coast road trip. Lively, who missed his second-straight game after breaking his nose vs. the Orlando Magic, is scheduled to undergo a procedure on Monday to reset the fracture. Kidd was unsure Saturday whether Lively would travel with the team to Philadelphia.

“We’ve got to get through the procedure first,” he said.