Doncic, Brunson Not Enough as Clippers Snap Mavs' Win Streak
Coming off a high-adrenaline Thursday night at American Airlines Center where a motivated Luka Doncic flamed the Los Angeles Clippers for a career-high 51 points, the Dallas Mavericks looked extend their four-game winning streak and finish out their six-game homestand with one more victory over LA in this mini two-game series.
The shorthanded-but-gritty Clippers had other plans, though, as they defeated the Mavs 99-97 to end the regular season series in a 2-2 tie. LA's trio of Reggie Jackson, Marcus Morris Sr. and Terance Mann combined for 65 points on 52 percent shooting.
As masterful as Luka Doncic was in the previous matchup by scoring a career-high 51 points, he struggled a lot more in this one (at least until the fourth quarter where he torched the Clippers for 23 points) despite what his 45-point, 15-rebound, eight-assist performance might suggest. Doncic shot just 15-of-33 from the field, including a handful of close misses around the rim that visibly frustrated him.
Even though the game didn't go Dallas' way for most of the night, Doncic still ended up with the ball in his hands, down two with just three seconds remaining, but his three-point heave for the win was off the mark.
"Obviously, we could get a better shot," said Doncic. "I saw DP [Dwight Powell] open, but I didn’t want to risk it because I didn’t know if it was going to be enough time to get a shot off. ... I saw right away it was off.”
In what is seemingly becoming a tradition when the Mavs and Clippers get together these days, Doncic and Mann got into each others faces yet again tonight. Despite the heated exchanges that appear to be personal at times, Mann insists that it's just pure competition.
"It’s in between the lines, man," said Mann afterwards. "You know he is a competitor and a great player. We have the same agent so it’s not personal in between the lines. He is a competitor and I’m a competitor. We both want to win. It gets chippy at times but we both want to win.”
Despite the loss, Doncic got some big help from Jalen Brunson, who pitched in with 22 points, four rebounds and three assists on 8-of-17 shooting from the field. Both Doncic and Brunson should get some much-needed help with ball-handling and play-making when newly acquired Spencer Dinwiddie, who averages six assists per game, makes his debut for Dallas. That debut for Dinwiddie, and also Davis Bertans, could come as early as Tuesday night.
If people still don't think Dinwiddie and Bertans can't help the Mavs out a little bit, perhaps they should look at how the Dallas bench only four points tonight. You read that correctly - four measly points. The Mavs will get much-needed injection of 'new' in that department very soon.
"That's just his nature. He can find guys," said Jason Kidd when asked if Doncic had too much of a burden on his shoulders to create for others.
"The responsibility of his teammates is to make shots. ... If you make shots, you put yourself in a position to win. ... You've got to play defense on the other end, too. It's just not halfcourt basketball. Again, we held a team under 100 points - that always tends to give us a chance to win. Tonight, we just didn't shoot the ball straight or take care of the ball, and that's hard when you play a team like the Clippers."
In what ended up being just a two-point loss, the fact that the Mavs ended up going just 12-of-19 from the free-throw line as a team will be a tough pill to swallow. The loss drops the Mavs to 33-24 on the season. Dallas remains fifth in the Western Conference standings.
Next up, the Mavs will fly to South Beach to take on the Eastern Conference-leading Miami Heat. That game will be the first of a very tough five-game roadtrip that also features the Utah Jazz, Golden State Warriors Los Angeles Lakers and a New Orleans Pelicans team that has been playing some great basketball as of late.
