The Dallas Mavericks offense is falling apart

Jonathan Gibson has never been afraid of scoring. The rookie 29-year-old guard averaged 42 points per game (not a typo) in the Chinese Basketball Association last year. The years of toiling in anonymity were coming to an end.

He was one of the last cuts for the Dallas Mavericks this season but did not have to go too far. A rash of injuries — Deron Williams, Devin Harris and Jose Juan Barea are all currently out — forced the Mavericks to change their plans and re-sign the dynamic young guard out of pure necessity.

Gibson’s offense is exactly what the Mavericks need to resurrect one of the most anemic, ugly and frustrating offenses in the league. Or maybe he is not enough.

“I think as a team collectively, we were aggressive from the beginning,” Gibson said following Saturday’s loss to the Orlando Magic. “We just have to continue that for the rest of the season and try to get a win. Keep putting in effort and everything.”

Gibson scored 26 points off the bench, making 8-of-16 shots and five of his nine 3-pointers. Even with six turnovers, he was the exact kind of offensive scoring spark the Mavericks needed. Because they need anything they can get on the offensive end right now.

Dallas shot 33.8 percent from the floor that night and scored just 87 points. The team missed its first 11 shots in that game and needed more than half the first quarter to record a field goal. This came a day after posting the worst shooting performance of the season to date against the Memphis Grizzlies (28.8 percent) in scoring just 64 points, including 29 in the first half, at home.

Yes, the Mavericks are missing several key players. But even with Harrison Barnes and Wesley Matthews still in the lineup, the Mavericks offense is posting some futile numbers.

“On offense, we can score the ball,” Matthews said following the Mavericks’ loss in Orlando. “We just have to start making plays for each other. And when we were doing that, the offense is contagious. The ball is driving, it’s kicking, it’s swinging and it is rhythm shots and it is pretty basketball. It is going to find its way in the basket. It happened for us, we just didn’t make enough plays toward the end.”

True, despite the Mavericks poor shooting Saturday, they held a three-point lead heading into the fourth quarter. Only an 18-point fourth quarter derailed the Mavericks’ chase for a win. Dallas now has the worst record in the league at 2-10.

Dallas’ field goal percentage of 40.2 percent is the worst in the league, and is on pace for the worst field goal percentage in league history since the 1999 Chicago Bulls. All but three seasons where a team shot 40.2 percent or worse occurred in the 1950s. It is not likely the Mavericks’ extremely poor shooting will last. Deron Williams began turning his career around some last year and Dirk Nowitzki is still an efficient player who will draw defense’s attention. But getting them healthy will not fix every problem.

The Mavericks, and their historically poor shooting, rank last in the league in offensive efficiency, scoring 95.2 points per 100 possessions. Their defense has been effective enough to keep them in games, but that stinker is right around the corner it seems.

Dallas’ offensive weapons are seemingly limited right now.

Gibson stepped up in his first two NBA games, but he is not someone the team can rely on. And they do have a S. Curry on the roster — it is only Seth Curry though. Those are players with some limited firepower. They can put up points in a hurry. But they are not players the team can rely on night to night. Consistency is their issue and why they are on the fringes of the NBA.

Instead, the team has to look more toward its big free-agent signing in Harrison Barnes.

Barnes was the punching bag when he was with the Golden State Warriors for his poor shooting, particularly in the playoffs. He still wrangled his talent into a max contract with the Mavericks. But his performance so far has disappointed.

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Barnes has hardly disappointed individually. He is averaging 21.3 points per game and shooting 46.0 percent from the floor and 30.6 percent from beyond the arc. His overall field goal percentage is about the same as last year with the Warriors despite nearly doubling his field goal attempts per game to 17.8 from 9.6. His usage rate has ballooned to 26.3 percent. But with all the injuries that means the team goes as he goes. In Orlando on Saturday, he made just three of his 13 shots. Against Memphis, just five of 17.

Barnes is hardly the model of consistency a struggling offense needs. He is prone to his droughts, like he had with Golden State throughout his career. More than anyone, Barnes needs Nowitzki and Williams back to lighten the playmaking load and help spread the ball around. There just are not enough scorers and the Mavericks are struggling to create good scoring opportunities.

That talent might all be there for at least a half-decent offense. But it has not quite come together yet. Not in any way. And with all the injuries still lingering (Andrew Bogut will miss Monday’s game in San Antonio, further hampering the Mavericks), there does not seem to be much more hope in sight.

Things are just really ugly for Dallas right now. As coach Rick Carlisle said after Saturday’s game, the Mavericks have to be about perfect right now. And that is extremely difficult.

There is not much margin for error for this team.

“There’s no reinventing the wheel here,” Carlisle said before Saturday’s game. “We’re holding teams to reasonable numbers. We’re getting opportunities. We just got to convert better. We got to get better quality shots. And we will.”

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