The Dallas Mavericks faltered down the stretch in their 120-117 loss to the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center on Tuesday night. Close losses have become a bit of a theme for the Mavericks this season and Luka Doncic touched on that problem and some other issues during his postgame press conference, via Grant Afseth.
Luka Doncic on the Mavericks’ struggles in close games:
“I think last year we were a very, very good clutch team. This year, not so good so far. We’ve lost two-straight by two or three points, so we just gotta work on closing out games.”
Luka Doncic on the Mavericks’ shot selection in the closing stages:
“I think it could’ve been way better. The shot clock was going down, so I was kinda trying to get to my spot, and then on the last shot I was trying to look if somebody was open, so I saw there’s three, four seconds to go, so I just took the shot.”
Luka Doncic on the facets of playing off the ball that he’s still getting adjusted to:
“Just overall. Just playing without the ball. Just all of it.”
It is bizarre just how much things have changed from last season for the Mavericks. They were 23-9 in clutch games in the 2023-24 campaign, with their 71.9% win rate being the second-best in the league. If it was a close game, you knew the Mavericks were going to come out on top a lot more often than not.
Now, though, following this loss to the Warriors, the Mavericks have dropped to 1-5 in clutch games in 2024-25. Their 16.7% win rate is the second-worst in the league, with only the Milwaukee Bucks (0%) being worse off.
In this contest with the Warriors, the Mavericks seemed to be in control when they were up 112-105 with just under four minutes remaining. What followed, was some Stephen Curry magic and an offensive disasterclass from the visitors.
Curry scored 12 points in the final four minutes of this game while the Mavericks, as a team, managed just five. Their offensive execution wasn’t good enough as they committed some costly turnovers and took some pretty ill-advised shots.
Doncic, who had 31 points, eight rebounds, six assists, and three steals on the night, was the one who took the last of those bad shots. The 25-year-old had a chance to tie the game in the closing stages but instead of trying to get a good look, he attempted a very difficult three-pointer and badly missed.
VIDEO:
Luka Doncic misses game-tying 3 , Warriors win pic.twitter.com/Vavdz7Bs6K
— 3030 (@jose3030) November 13, 2024
That shot wasn’t even close to going in. The Mavericks had plenty of time to run a good play there and didn’t do so. Doncic just played hero ball and the team paid the price for it. This is the second time in two games that the Slovenian has taken a bad shot in a big moment.
Against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night, Doncic launched a three-pointer from near the logo when the Mavericks were up 120-118 with just over a minute remaining.
One of the stupidest shots I’ve ever seen watching basketball with and without the context of what was happening pic.twitter.com/DXv2HRa6oR
— Aadan (@JMurrayWrld) November 11, 2024
Kyrie Irving was on 43 points at that stage and had scored 16 in the fourth quarter alone. For Doncic to take that shot instead of trying to find a way to get Irving the ball was just inexcusable. Sure, the Nuggets were trying to deny him the ball, but it’s not exactly an impossible task to still get it to him.
These two shots in some ways sum up Doncic’s start to this 2024-25 season. The five-time All-Star was the MVP favorite for many coming into the campaign but hasn’t been nearly as impactful as he was expected to be.
Doncic is averaging 28.5 points, 8.1 rebounds, 7.9 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game in 2024-25 but is shooting just 41.9% from the field and 32.1% from beyond the arc. He needs to be a lot more efficient and just needs to start playing better, in general, to dig his team out of this hole they find themselves in.
Doncic will look to make amends for this loss when the Mavericks take on the Utah Jazz at Delta Center on Thursday at 9 PM IST. I certainly wouldn’t bet against him and the Mavs coming away with a win in that one.
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