During their lone game on the road, the Dallas Mavericks were expected to grab a comfortable win against the San Antonio Spurs. Even though the Mavs did emerge victorious, the contest was far more closely contested than they envisioned it to be. An action-packed thriller between the two Texas sides that witnessed 13 lead changes, eventually ended in Jason Kidd’s boys favor 113-107. The subpar performance, shooting-wise, from Luka Doncic could be one of the major reasons behind the same.
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Luka Doncic has been the NBA’s leading scorer, averaging more than 34 points per game. However, the Slovenian superstar was unable to go on his scoring outburst during the Mavs-Spurs battle. Despite playing more than 40 minutes, Doncic scored merely 18 points on a horrific 6-27 shooting display from the field, as per Nick Angstadt’s post on X.
Talking about Doncic’s statistically worst shooting performance (22.2% FG) of his career, Kyrie Irving stood up for his teammate. Irving explained how Doncic is only human and would have such productions from time to time. Kai also expressed his admiration while admitting that Doncic was still aggressive despite not finding his rhythm.
“The guy’s hungry to be perfect every single night and I admire that about him. But he’s human, just like the rest of us. And when he’s not able to hit shots that he normally makes, we gotta pick him up. I like that he was still aggressive,” Irving said, as reported by Grant Afseth.
While Doncic was 16 points short of his points per game average this season, he did makeup with his rebounding and playmaking. The 6ft 7” guard recorded 16 assists and 10 rebounds, to lodge his seventh triple-double in the last nine games. Hence, despite a 6-27 FG, the 25-year-old had a positive box plus-minus.
Luka Doncic has led the Mavericks to the 7th seed
The Dallas Mavericks were in exceptional form entering the All-Star Weekend, having won seven straight games. However, after the break concluded, the Mavs struggled to find any wins, suffering five losses in six games.
But since then, Luka Doncic has led the team to an impressive 6-1 record. In these seven games, Doncic has stuffed the state sheet, averaging a staggering 29.5 points, 9.3 rebounds, 10.5 assists, and 1.3 steals per game, per ESPN.
Following their latest winning spree, the Dallas Mavericks have regained their 7th spot in the Western Conference with a 40-29 record and are tied with the #6 Sacramento Kings in the standings. However, considering that the #8 Phoenix Suns are only 0.5 games behind them, Doncic and co. cannot afford to take their foot off the gas. (Stats from NBA.com)
The remaining 13 games for the Dallas Mavericks will be of the utmost importance. Additionally, they are also facing Western Conference teams in 9 of these games. Considering that they would want to advance to the postseason, without participating in the play-in tournament, winning a majority of these contests will be a priority.
