Luka Doncic's 40-Ball Not Enough; Mavs Hit New Low in Loss to Hornets
CHARLOTTE – Just when you thought it couldn't much worse for the Dallas Mavericks after Friday night's shenanigans, falling down by 19 points in the first half of Sunday's rematch with the Charlotte Hornets proved that there's still some room to find rock bottom.
Despite discovering some much-improved energy in the second half, the Mavs couldn't get over the hump down the stretch and ultimately lost the game, 110-104. Dallas is now 36-39 on the year with their postseason hopes evaporating by the day.
Luka Doncic, who had been in a major funk as of late, got things rolling in the final four minutes of the second quarter en route to 40 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. Although he put up admirable stats, though, Doncic shot just 12-29 from the field and was a -11 on the night.
To make things even worse for the Mavs, Doncic received his 16th technical of the season in the second quarter, meaning he'll be suspended for Monday's game against the Indiana Pacers unless the league takes the tech away in the next 24 hours.
Kyrie Irving has also had recent struggles shooting the ball as he's been fighting a nagging plantar fasciitis injury. He finished with 18 points on 5-15 shooting overall, including 2-6 from deep.
Although all the blame can't be placed on coach Jason Kidd, the fact of the matter is that he is responsible for motivating his team enough to where they don't consistently fall behind by double-digit points at the beginning of must-win games. A team with Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving should be better than what we've seen in recent weeks.
Perhaps Kidd's voice just isn't resonating with this Mavs' roster the way it did last season. If he has lost the locker room, then it might be time for Mark Cuban to start his search for who will be the next head coach of the Mavs.
The Mavs are now a half-game behind the Oklahoma City Thunder for the final play-in tournament spot in the Western Conference, but that might as well be a 1.5 game lead due to OKC owning the head-to-head tiebreaker.
With seven games remaining, the writing appears to be on the wall for these Mavericks, and focusing on retaining their 2023 first-round draft pick, which will convey to the New York Knicks unless it ends up being in the top 10, might be more important than scrapping for a play-in game at this point.
Next up, the Mavs will take on former coach Rick Carlisle and the Indiana Pacers on the second night of a back-to-back tomorrow. We'll see if Doncic's 16th technical gets rescinded, but chances are, he'll be getting a league-enforced rest.
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