The Dallas Mavericks suffered a MLK Day defeat to the Charlotte Hornets.
Eastern Conference basement dwellers the Charlotte Hornets are in the process of trying to plan for the future, trading away players to acquire picks. They made a trade with the Phoenix Suns last week.
Now they have responded with three straight wins, most recently beating the Dallas Mavericks.
The Mavericks lost 110-105 to the Hornets, on a night two Mavericks players stepped up, and one did not.
Klay Thompson was the Mavericks big off-season acquisition, leaving the Golden State Warriors behind.
Against a dogged Hornets side, Kyrie Irving put up 33 points and Daniel Gafford threw off trade rumors to score 31.
Klay Thompson scored only seven points, attempting just five shots all game, scoring three of them.
And the crucial shot came in the dying second, with the score 108-105, Klay Thompson had a shot from three to tie the game… and missed.
The missed shot was symptomatic of Klay Thompson’s poor efforts in recent weeks, he has been found wanting when the Mavs really need him.
Star player Luka Doncic is out with injury, and Dallas have really needed Thompson to step up. He has not been able to.
His last four games have seen the Mavs lose three, while he has only reached double figures twice.
| Opponent | Final Score | Klay Thompson points |
| Charlotte Horrnets | L 110-105 | 7 |
| Oklahoma City Thunder | W 106-98 | 6 |
| New Orleans Pelicans | L 119-116 | 12 |
| Denver Nuggets | L 118-99 | 8 |
Thompson has scored a combined 33 points across the past four games. He once scored more than this in a single quarter at his Warriors peak.
Five games ago Thompson put up 25 against the Nuggets, before scoring 0 in the fourth quarter and missing a late shot.
The Mavs really needed a big run over the past weeks from a player with more than 16,000 NBA points to his name. But it simply has not worked.
Related Topics
