The Dallas Mavericks fell to the Utah Jazz, 115-113, marking their fourth consecutive loss of the NBA season. The Mavs now sit at 5-7, a far cry from their stellar performance in last season’s playoffs. After the game, Luka Doncic didn’t hold back in addressing the team’s main issue.
Currently, Dallas ranks near the bottom of the Western Conference standings, sitting just above the Portland Trail Blazers (5-8), Utah Jazz (3-8), and New Orleans Pelicans (3-9). Despite the narrow margins in recent losses, Doncic emphasized one glaring problem.
“We’ve (lost) four straight by basically two points, or three,” Doncic said. “There’s a lot of hope, but we’ve got to get better. We can’t get a rebound. I think that’s mostly the main reason why we are losing.”
Doncic takes responsibility for defensive misstep
In the loss to the Jazz, the game was tied at 113 with just 10 seconds left when a defensive lapse by Dallas allowed Jordan Clarkson to set up John Collins for an uncontested dunk. That play sealed the victory for Utah, and Doncic took accountability for the mistake.
“That was a misunderstanding. I thought I was gonna go hit, and Grimes thought he was gonna go hit… We misunderstood the bench. That’s on me,” Doncic admitted postgame, per The Dallas Morning News’ Mike Curtis.
Jason Kidd reflects on Mavericks’ recent struggles
Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd pointed out that the team’s challenges this week extended beyond the court. “(The players) have things that go on outside of the arena, and that’s always monitored (but) those things aren’t shared publicly,” Kidd explained. “This has been an emotional week, starting in Denver, having an opportunity to win there, and just the buildup of the game against Golden State with Klay.”
Kidd added, “We could be a little bit more concerned, not just about the buildup, but what the effects are. Yesterday and today, just the mental fatigue, the physical fatigue. So we’ve got to be cautious of that because we understand the league isn’t going to pause the games. But this has been an emotional week for everybody.”
With a week of narrow losses and emotional hurdles, the Mavericks will look to regroup and focus on fixing their rebounding struggles. For Doncic and the team, there’s plenty of work ahead as they aim to climb back into contention in the Western Conference.