Just as the tiniest spark of optimism crept into the locker room, the Dallas Mavericks (22-18) collapsed like a dying star in Tuesday’s 118-99 loss to the Denver Nuggets (24-15) at American Airlines Center. Dallas has now lost eight of its last 11 games as the bad news surrounding this team continues to breed more bad news. Denver has now won eight of its last eleven games.

Kyrie Irving returned after missing the team’s last five games with a back injury, but misfortune struck again as Denver faced the Mavs in the teams’ second meeting in three days. The Nuggets came back twice in Sunday’s game against the Mavs, in the first half from a 17-point deficit, then again in the second half from a 19-point deficit in a 112-101 win at Victory Plaza.

It was Denver’s turn and they got off to a flying start in the baseball-style rubber game of this series. Jamal Murray made three of his four 3-point attempts in the first 5:30 of the game to give the Nuggets an early 16-6 lead, but he also set up three early assists for his teammates in the first eight minutes of the game. Murray was everywhere – his midfield fadeaway jumper earned him 11 early points and gave Denver a 23-10 lead with 4:30 left in the first period while the Mavs were still lacing up their sneakers.

To add insult to injury, Dereck Lively II left the game with 8:04 left in the first after his right foot collided with someone else’s while fighting for a rebound. As the first quarter came to a close, the announcement came that Lively would not return to the game after spraining his right ankle.

Murray scored a ridiculous 19 points on 7 of 9 shooting in the first quarter, giving Denver a 36-21 lead at the end of one quarter. His scoring average (19.0 points per game) entering the game would be his lowest since the 2019-20 season, but he brought his flamethrower with him to Dallas on Tuesday.

The Mavericks missed their first six 3-point attempts before Klay Thompson finally scored with just under nine minutes left in the second. PJ Washington found Thompson open on the wing after repelling the loose ball with his own missed floater that missed the target entirely, pulling Dallas within 43-25. But early in the game, the writing was clearly visible to everyone in the building and those watching from home. Without a fully functional Lively in Irving’s first game back from a back injury, the Mavs had no chance of returning to Denver.

Murray single-handedly outscored all Dallas starters in the first half, while the Nuggets’ lead grew to 29 points (71-42) on Murray’s finger-roll finish after a nice shot from Jokic about 30 seconds before halftime. Murray scored 32 points before halftime, setting a new career high in the first half, compared to 23 combined points from Naji Marshall, Washington, Lively, Irving and Thompson. Murray’s 32 first-half points were the third-most in the first half of any game this season.

The Nuggets gave the beleaguered Mavs what can only be described as absurdity in the first half, taking a 71-45 lead into the locker room and grinding out an easy 118-99 victory in the second half. Murray led all scorers with 45 points on 18 of 26 shooting and had six assists in the win over the Mavs. Daniel Gafford led Dallas with 13 points, a four-point lead.

Photo by Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images

Former University of Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, who will be drafted early in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, sat on the sidelines during the proceedings and apparently stayed past halftime, which is more interesting than anything on the field Tuesday happened second half. The Mavericks went on a 16-2 run that spanned the end of the third period and into the first three minutes of the fourth quarter behind Marshall’s shooting and defensive activity, but it was never a serious comeback attempt.

Bitten by a snake

The Mavs are going through these injuries. You can’t make this up. When Lively left, even the walking corpse of DeAndre Jordan’s career was inside enjoying the remnants of the Mavs’ interior defense. What cosmic offense has this franchise committed that deserves such cruel and unusual punishment? Jordan came in and scored eight points on 3 of 4 shooting in just seven minutes of the first half, including two lob dunks straight out of 2015, forcing TNT color commentator Greg Anthony to wonder if the Nuggets might be able to rest Nikola Jokic a little longer. I mean, why not? Mavericks fans around the world should be compensated for serious violations of their constitutional rights.

Keep an eye on Irving

Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said before the game that Irving would only see 30 to 33 minutes in his first game back from a back injury, but upon closer inspection, Irving came into the game averaging just over 35 minutes per game. If there had been legitimate concerns about Irving’s workload in his first game back, the limit would have been much more than two measly minutes below his average usage. It’s just further evidence that Kidd prefers word salad over anything remotely based in reality when speaking to the media. In the end, Irving played just over 30 minutes and scored 11 points on 4 of 18 shooting in his first game back.

Irving missed all three of his 3-point attempts in his first game back and shot just 3 of 11 on his way to nine points and four rebounds in the first half. However, he was active in the passing lanes on defense and grabbed four steals in the loss – if you’re seriously looking for a silver lining. He hit a nice reverse lay-in over Jokic midway through the third quarter that was a bit reminiscent of Kyrie, so there were some signs that he could bounce back quickly.

There’s not much more to say about this unless you’re just a Mavs masochist.