Marcus Sasser finally logged minutes for Dallas, and the Mavericks received something more useful than another preseason projection: a small sample they can actually examine.
Sasser played 12 minutes in Friday’s 135-111 loss to Atlanta at American Airlines Center after missing Dallas’ first three exhibitions with a left adductor issue. He finished with five points, two turnovers, no assists and a 2-for-4 shooting line that included one made three-pointer.
Sergio de Larrea played 25 minutes and produced eight points, four assists, two turnovers, two blocked shots and a 2-for-3 mark from three-point range.
The game’s larger arithmetic made it impossible for either guard to repair the evening. Atlanta made 21 threes to Dallas’ 13 and converted 34 of 45 free throws, compared with Dallas’ 18-for-26 mark. The Mavericks did win paint scoring 50-38, but Atlanta won rebounds 55-42 and offensive boards 17-12.
Those advantages helped turn a competitive first quarter into a 24-point defeat, leaving limited room for a reserve guard to reshape the result.
That is enough to make the backup-guard discussion more concrete. It is not enough to settle it.
The playing-time comparison needs careful handling. De Larrea received more than twice Sasser’s minutes, with both guards appearing during the difficult second quarter. Those are unequal auditions. A guard playing 25 minutes has more chances to add an assist or another basket than one playing 12; a larger line matters without turning the totals into a direct ranking.
Sasser’s night contained two particularly clear pieces of evidence. At 7:37 of the second quarter, he lost the ball on a bad pass that Dyson Daniels stole. At 5:45, he missed a 23-foot three.
Sasser left at 4:14 when de Larrea entered. The turnover is a possession Dallas would want cleaned up; the missed jumper is simply one attempt in a small workload. Neither moment deserves to become a scouting report by itself.
The timing was also harsh. Atlanta’s second-quarter lead stood at 49-40 after Irving’s pull-up, then scored 14 of the next 15 points. Jalen Johnson’s dunk made it 63-41, and Dallas reached halftime down 73-54 after shooting 8-for-24 in the period and 1-for-10 from three.
