The Dallas Mavericks lost 108-102 to the Houston Rockets on Thursday night in a game that was rarely as close as the final result suggests. Houston led by as many as 23 points late in the third quarter before Dallas used a late charge to cut the lead to three points, but they were never able to equalize or take the lead. The Rockets were ahead by double digits throughout the second and third quarters, while the Mavs struggled to get on offense until the fourth quarter.

This was a game that Dallas would look back on later in the year and wish they had taken advantage of. Houston shot the ball poorly, especially from three, but the Mavs couldn't rebound, stop the foul or get the offense going.

Here are three takeaways from Thursday night's disappointment.

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You can look at his final stats and think that Luka Doncic played solid: 29 points, 12/25 shots, 3/7 from three. But he also had just five rebounds and two assists and had just 14 points on 6/17 shooting before the fourth period. That doesn't even take into account the frustration fouls when you don't get a call on offense or miss a layup. He's not playing as well as we've come to expect from him, and with the depth largely not being good, it's up to the Stars to develop the team.

20, 26, 27, 26, 21. These are the first quarters of each of the five Mavericks games this season. They have shot just 47/119 (39.5%) in the first quarters this season and have yet to reach at least 50% shooting in the first frame. That's not good enough in today's NBA, where offense and speed are crucial. This is partly due to Luka's slow start, but the depth around him also needs to be better and take advantage of open looks.

With Dallas' center rotation of Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford, the Mavericks should be able to control rebounds and get on the counterattack, but Houston dominated the offensive glass. The Rockets grabbed 18 offensive rebounds on Thursday night, which led to 20 second-chance points. For most of the game, they had as many offensive rebounds as Dallas had defensive rebounds. These extra possessions frustrated the Mavs and the offense came to a halt. The Mavs probably could have won this game if they had just backed that up, but now they have to shake it off before the Magic come to town on Sunday.

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