There are a lot of built-in excuses for this, but that doesn’t make what happened Saturday night at the Moda Center any nicer. The Dallas Mavericks (20-12) lost a 126-122 decision to the weak Portland Trail Blazers (11-20) after a fourth-quarter comeback attempt failed on the second night of a back-to-back set following Friday night’s histrionics Phoenix and after the recent injuries to Luka Dončić and Dereck Lively II.

Kyrie Irving led the Mavericks with a new season-high 46 points on 16 of 26 shooting, including 5 of 12 from 3-pointers, along with two steals on defense. But Saturday night’s game devolved into something like the worst Summer League game you’ve ever seen over the course of the third quarter before the Mavs made their furious comeback attempt in the fourth quarter. Portland, a team that notoriously has trouble finding the broad side of the bar on offense, had six players reach double figures in scoring against the Mavs. Five of them scored 19 or more, led by Shaedon Sharpe with 23.

Here are four stats that stand out from Saturday’s loss at Portland.

16-6: Portland’s rebounding advantage in the first quarter

In the first nine minutes of the game, the Blazers outscored the Mavericks 13-3, leading to nine early second-chance points for Portland. All nine of those second-chance points came during an 18-4 Portland run that saw their lead grow to as many as 18 points early, a 34-16 increase after Scoot Henderson scored with 2:11 left in the first made a mid-distance jump.

Dallas brought nine different players into the game in the first quarter, and none of them had the slightest idea that they were going to sit with their asses on a Portland Trail Blazer to secure a defensive board.

The Mavs responded with a small 9-0 spurt at the end of the frame, but not before they began limiting the Trail Blazers to one shot per possession. Portland took a 36-25 lead and had a 16-6 lead after a rebound. They outscored Dallas 55-48 that night.

46: Kyrie Irving scores

Photo by Cameron Browne/NBAE via Getty Images

Irving had to drag out the Mavs’ lethargic offense to get back to within 10 points at halftime. In the first half, he scored from all directions, often having to take tough shots and exert maximum energy to convert them on curved, off-balance shots to the basket. He scored on three straight possessions, a long three-pointer, a drive through heavy Portland traffic and a faltering mid-range shot to put the Mavericks up 66-59 with 42 seconds before halftime. Henderson responded with his first 3-ball of the game on the next down, making the score 69-59 at halftime.

Irving scored 24 points on 9 of 15 shooting (2 of 5 from 3-point range) in his 18 minutes played in the first two quarters. The performance is great and necessary, but the Mavericks need to find a way to avoid dragging the 32-year-old down in Dončić’s absence. A little help from his friends would be nice. Klay Thompson and Spencer Dinwiddie combined to shoot just 10 of 30 from the field and 4 of 14 from 3-point range in the loss.

Irving scored just two points in the third quarter before giving the Blazers a massive 20-point heroics in the fourth quarter as the Mavs tried to regain the lead.

24-to-12: Portland’s goal advantage in the fast break

The Blazers are a team that really only has one way to beat you: get out fast, run and find easy shots on the fast break. They absolutely dominated this beleaguered version of the Mavs in Saturday’s fast break. Portland found open 3-pointers after the fastbreak, got to the line and created 3-point play opportunities and kept the Mavs and their short bench fastbreak points over three en route to a 24-7 lead were mixed up throughout the quarter. Dallas scored the only five fast-break points of the fourth quarter to secure its final lead of 24-12

As a result, the Trail Blazers outscored the Mavericks 58-38 on Saturday. Dallas averaged 50.5 points per game (8th in the NBA) while the Blazers averaged 48.3 (14th in the NBA).

Deandre Ayton insulted Daniel Gafford in the post all night long. Ayton scored 21 points on 9 of 15 and grabbed 16 rebounds in the win.

11-2: Irving’s personal run in the fourth quarter

The Mavericks got within five points late in the game when Irving freaked out in the fourth. At the start of the fourth quarter, he went on an 11-2 run alone, bringing the Mavs to 102-97 with less than nine minutes to play. In that stretch, he hit three contested 3-balls and a turnaround jumper along the baseline over Jerami Grant.

The Mavs got back to within the five-point mark a few times late in the game, but Portland had a timely response each time as the game went on. Both Dinwiddie and Quentin Grimes hit desperate 3-pointers late in the fourth, but the Mavs just didn’t have enough power to complete the comeback with a short bench on the second night of a back-to-back game.