The Dallas Mavericks had a terrible start to the 2021/22 season, getting dominated by Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday night. The Texan team landed in State Farm Arena trying to start their new cycle with a win, but none of that happened.
Instead, they were held to under 90 points, showing a poor face against the 2021 Eastern Conference finalists. Luka Doncic didn’t have the best night, posting only 18 points while Kristaps Porzingis added 11. Even after one game, the alarms are set for the Mavs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWMTrpo4WGk
The Athletic’s senior writer John Hollinger had certain things to say following the game, going after Jason Kidd, taking a big shot at the former Milwaukee Bucks, Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers coach.
“Finally the league has a coach who can shut down Luka Doncic,” Hollinger tweeted Thursday night.
Finally the league has a coach who can shut down Luka Doncic
— John Hollinger (@johnhollinger) October 22, 2021
His words sparked many reactions from the NBA community. Some fans defended Kidd and blamed Doncic for the 113-87 loss. Others agreed with the writer, saying that this was the result they expected since the moment the Mavericks hired Kidd.
https://twitter.com/thatbigDsports/status/1451371006942236676
He went up against Kaehi PG13 Pat Bev and co. and destroyed them. Their team functions only cuz Luka is there, overall w/o him they are in the lottery. It's too early to blame the coach, games like this happen but Kidd is suspect. I am not a Mavs fan bt😅
— Nora (@Fire_Darvin_Ham) October 22, 2021
Maybe the off season cheeseburgers have shut down Luka Doncic?
— MicCheck 1.2.1.2 (@newyorklahoman) October 22, 2021
Why do I feel like this has been in your drafts for 2 months?
— Rip Petty (@Rip_petty11) October 22, 2021
I don't think that's what happened but it's better than what I think happened so I'll go with it.
— Sher (@w00sher) October 22, 2021
https://twitter.com/mattyice_32/status/1451366945236955144
Predictable tweet on night one lol. Just say you hate Jason Kidd and go.
— MambaMentality2️⃣4️⃣🖤 Have Faith📿 ✌🏾 (@MarqP4) October 22, 2021
Yes, Jason Kidd.
— Horns Report (@hornsrep) October 22, 2021
Excuse me, the NBA has had this coach around for awhile.
— Jim Phillips (@SanFrancisoSlim) October 22, 2021
Yes because the Mavs were eliminated from playoff contention after game 1 tonight….smh!!
— Bertness (@APJFo5) October 22, 2021
Took me a minute but yea only 1 game in I'm very worried about this hire.
— Russ Wheeler (@utahgetme2two) October 22, 2021
Jason Kidd sure has done that
— Landon🇸🇮 (@PeresLandon) October 22, 2021
Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. Worst hire in @dallasmavs history.
— peerott (@PEEROTT) October 22, 2021
Jason wasn’t missing threes
— Indie Music Focus (@Pickleballcap) October 22, 2021
Great job by Jason kidd
— KC warmove 🇹🇳🇲🇫👆 (@tounsi_D_moha) October 22, 2021
So does Kidd get fired before Christmas?
— Curlybojangles (@curlybojangles) October 22, 2021
https://twitter.com/MFFLNate/status/1451379434628558854
Jason landed in Dallas to replace Rick Carlisle. The relationship between the old coach and the players wasn’t the best, which led to some rift within the team. This start doesn’t look promising for the Mavericks, either, and not many people believe they can turn things around.
They want to finally get past the first round of the playoff, but the job won’t be easy. Kidd needs to find his touch with this team and get the players on the same page as him. Once that happens, this team will be a threat to the rest of the West.
If Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis finally click, Kidd’s job will be a lot easier. However, seeing how his tenure with the team started, he’ll probably have more things to fix than initially expected.
