Dallas Mavericks: Wesley Matthews Didn't Like Team's Intensity
After the Dallas Mavericks lost at home to the Charlotte Hornets, Wesley Matthews took time afterwards to talk about the lack of intensity the team had.
After playing (and losing) to the Charlotte Hornets for the second time in four days, Wesley Matthews was honest and blunt in talking about how the team lost on Monday night.
“I didn’t like our intensity tonight. We just didn’t have that fight we showed through the duration of the game. Sometimes I felt we got comfortable,” Matthews said.
Even though Dallas did lose the game, the Mavericks had a double-digit lead in the third quarter but squandered the lead in the fourth quarter.
“It’s inexcusable though. We are not in a position to get comfortable. We are not in a position to just rest on what we have done in a game. The NBA game is crazy. Twenty point lead is not safe, it’s a game of runs,” Matthews said.
Matthews mentioned runs and it was a 15-5 Charlotte run that capped the game in the fourth quarter led by Batum and Walker. “We were controlling the game for the most part and I know at times it is easy nature to just relax. We are not in a position to do that,” Matthews said at his locker after the game.
But even though Matthews questioned the team’s intensity and their comfort, he made it a point to include himself in those who need to get better. “I have to be better. Everybody has got to be better. Everybody has to feel what is happening,” Matthews said.
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For a team that has four wins on the season, it would be easy for everyone in the organization to simply hang their heads and look forward to next year, but Matthews still has that fight and passion to win games.
Matthews still “feels” the loses and still gets pissed off after each game they lose. Even though Dallas sits at the bottom of the West, the talk of the organization has been around putting some type of winning streak together.
After winning against the Bulls on Saturday, Dallas couldn’t start a winning streak as they lost the very next game on Monday. When asked how disappointing it was to not win a couple in a row, Matthews had this to say on the team’s identity.
“We got too cool for whatever reason and we can’t do that. We have to be crazy dogs from tip to the final buzzer and that is how we have to play. That’s how we have been playing…that is our identity, we just didn’t do it long enough tonight.”
Grit and grind might be Memphis’ slogan and style, but the Mavericks look to have adopted some form of that this season as they battle through their injuries.
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