The Dallas Mavericks have crashed out of the Western Conference Finals after losing a hard-fought series to the Golden State Warriors 4-1. The Mavericks chose a strategy to live and die by the three, and they have clearly died because of it. However, this season will fill the Mavs with a lot of confidence going forward.
Luka Doncic is the heartbeat of the team and many have argued they can go as far as Luka can take them. He couldn’t take them to a Game 6, after one of the worst first-half performances of his career. Luka was 2/12 at halftime with just 6 points. Thankfully, he went off in the third quarter to make the Mavs competitive again.
Many will wonder how the game could have gone if Luka made an active effort from the start of the game rather than waiting till the end. He understands his burden in this loss and has already taken accountability for this performance.
Luka Dončić: “I played like terrible but I’m really proud of this team. Every player, staff member. No one had us here, I’m really proud of this team.”
— Landon Thomas (@sixfivelando) May 27, 2022
Doncic had a lot more things to say about the team and his performance after the loss, as Luka looks to enter the off-season before playing NBA basketball again until October.
“Great, we are a young team. This year we made a huge step, maybe a couple steps. Obviously we got a lot to do but I think we are on a great way.“
Doncic also called out his defensive performance through the season. “Defense, got to be better for me. Honestly think I made a huge step this year but got to be better.” (h/t Landon Thomas)
The Mavericks have a lot of roster questions to answer. Even though most of the players have a contract for next season, they need to address their big-man rotation and possibly add more wing defenders to take pressure off Reggie Bullock and Dorian Finney-Smith.
A great season for the Mavericks and Doncic, even if it ended in heartbreak. This is a team that will be in this position for years to come if Doncic can continue on the path he is on.
