Tough night for Aussies in NBA

Oct 27, 2016 - 3:50 AM It was a dismal opening night for Australians Andrew Bogut, Matthew Dellavedova, Thon Maker and Aron Baynes in the NBA.

Bogut was left on the bench in the final quarter and overtime as his new team, the Dallas Mavericks, went down to the Indiana Pacers 130-121.

"I like the way we fought and hung in, but the defence has obviously got to be better," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said.

Bogut had six points, six rebounds and one block from 19 minutes in Tuesday's game at Indianapolis while Mavericks' 13-time All-Star Dirk Nowitzki had 22 points and eight rebounds.

Bogut, 31, and Nowitzki, 38, could not keep up with the Pacers' younger, athletic big men, forcing Carlisle to keep the Australian on the bench down the stretch.

The Pacers' hero was 20-year-old centre/forward Myles Turner, who scored a career tying-high 30 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and made a three-pointer with 1:18 left in overtime to start an 8-0 run that sealed the win.

It appears Dellavedova will have to earn every cent of his four-year, $US38.5 million contract to get his new team, the Milwaukee Bucks, into the playoffs after they showed little promise in a 107-96 loss to the Charlotte Hornets.

Bucks coach Jason Kidd chose not to play 19-year-old, 216cm tall Australian rookie Maker despite the blowout loss.

Dellavedova had talked up the Bucks' hopes before the game, but despite a solid 11 points and teammate Giannis Antetokounmpo's 31 points and nine rebounds they trailed the Hornets for most of the game.

Baynes, who played with a face mask after fracturing his nose last week in a pre-season game, was unable to help his Detroit Pistons who fell to the Toronto Raptors 109-91.

The Queenslander had eight points and three rebounds.

The Raptors' DeMar DeRozan scored 40 points and Jonas Valanciunas added a career-high 32 to bury Baynes' Pistons in Toronto.

Source: AAP