“If This Was Last Year, We Would’ve Lost by 30!”: Luka Doncic Keeps Positive Outlook as Nikola Jokic’s Nuggets Hand Mavericks 1st Loss

Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks finally lost the first game of their season yesterday against the reigning NBA Champions, the Denver Nuggets. The Mavs put on a good show on the road in their first In-Season tournament game, with Doncic leading the way with another dominant 34-10-8 performance. However, even with Doncic looking almost unstoppable, the Mavericks fell to the Nuggets, 125-114.

This takes the Mavs’ record to four wins and one loss, which saw them lose the top seat in the Western Conference. However, like the true leader that Doncic is, he remained composed after the loss and even embraced Nuggets captain, Nikola Jokic, on the court after the game. Doncic showed maturity even during the press conference.

On being asked about the team’s early struggles during the game, the 24-year-old took most of the blame on himself, telling the media, “We started slow, but I think there are a lot of positive things to look at. I think what lost us the game was my turnovers, and [giving up] some offensive rebounds. I think if this was last year, we would have lost by 30. So I think there’s a lot of positive things to look at.”

Doncic, who is averaging MVP-caliber numbers this season, was quick to point out how the team has improved a lot this season. Turnovers, a huge issue for the Mavs in the past, had been considerably low during the first four games of the season. Doncic even pointed out how they played good defense despite losing the game, something rarely ever said about the Mavericks.

Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks look to improve

Luka Doncic and the Mavs have admittingly been mostly an offensive-heavy team. With players like Luka, Kyrie Irving, and Tim Hardaway Jr. on the floor, it’s no surprise that Dallas has no problem on the offensive end of the floor. However, the team still lacks a good defensive core.

Doncic even addressed the problems of turnovers the team has been facing, telling the media during the post-game press conference, as seen in this clip posted by Mavs beat writer, Grant Afseth, “Yeah, it was terrible. It was just sloppiness with the ball. I think just trying to make the passes — they were up in the pick-and-roll, but there were a lot of them that weren’t good decisions. … I just have to go watch the film and get way better with turnovers. I started the season with very low turnovers. So been kind of sloppy with the ball the last couple of games.”

With Luka and the Mavs sitting at the third spot in an extremely stacked Western Conference, it will be interesting to see if the four-time All-Star can win the MVP this year and lead his team to the promised land.