Jason Kidd as Klay Thompson on the bench against the Pelicans
The Dallas Mavericks suffered its third straight loss after losing to the New Orleans Pelicans, 101-99, at the American Airlines Center on Wednesday. They fell to 2-6 in what has been a weak start to their campaign.
The Mavericks had a chance to send the game into overtime, but ahead Cooper Flagg missed his shot.
Dallas couldn’t get the win even though New Orleans was without key players Zion Williamson, Jordan Poole and Yves Misi, who are all sidelined with injuries. The Mavericks also had a short roster without Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving and Derek Lively II.
Dallas coach Jason Kidd experimented with a different starting unit, as he brought in a guard Klay Thompson from the bench.
“When we have a playmaker on the floor, everything is fine. I talked to Clay. I said, ‘This is not a permanent thing, but can you come off the bench?’ He was good with it. I thought him coming off the bench gave us a spark,” Kidd said, as reported by Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News.
In 21 minutes, the 35-year-old Thompson scored 11 points on 3-of-6 shooting from distance, four rebounds and three assists.
Flagg led the Mavericks with a team-high 20 points to go along with nine rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Daniel Gafford and PJ Washington combined for 30 points, 19 rebounds and four blocks.
Thompson has weaker work in his second season in Dallasshooting just 34.2% from the field and 29.2% from three-point range. Coming off the bench, however, could do wonders for the four-time champion, as he could be the main option for the second unit.
2025-11-06 16:05:00
