Dallas Mavericks forward Anthony Davis sustained an apparent hand injury during their 116-114 road loss against the Utah Jazz on Thursday night, and head coach Jason Kidd called out his players for their costly mistake after the incident.
The Dallas Mavericks forward got hurt with less than three minutes in the fourth quarter during a drive to the basket, as Lauri Markkanen inadvertently jammed Davis’ hand while making the move. According to Kidd, Davis should’ve taken the foul in that sequence. And to make matters worse, the team also lost Brandon Williams due to illness.
“The smart play is just take the foul. That’s what we should’ve done. He felt like he was fine. We come back down. We didn’t take the foul. (Markkanen) gets a layup & then we have to take a timeout. That’s just the play. We’ll learn from it. We take the foul, side out & we can sub. That’s the play, not do I trust my players. I trust my guys. As a coach, they said he was fine. I thought he was fine,” Kidd told Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News.
“I don’t think it’s tough. I think that’s our norm with injuries or sickness. We lose guys. Next guy up. I thought Ryan did a good job for us. Caleb did a good job. Klay did a great job in his 900th game. He came off the bench & gave us a spark,” he added.
Dallas Mavericks News: Cooper Flagg flirts with triple-double in close loss vs. Utah Jazz
Cooper Flagg was a bright spot for the Dallas Mavericks in yesterday’s loss, as he produced 26 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, and three steals on 10-for-18 shooting from the field across 38 minutes of action. Before this, he dropped 42 points on his first visit to the Delta Center.
“Just been feeling really confident. Getting comfortable behind the line. I haven’t shot it the best, so teams are gonna start giving that up. I just have to be confident and step into it and knock it down,” Flagg said of his jumpshot.
Speaking of jumpshots, Klay Thompson had his going for the Dallas Mavericks. The four-time NBA champion was the team’s second-leading scorer, chipping in 23 points, three rebounds, five assists, and six three-pointers on 7-for-13 shooting in 29 minutes off the bench.
