'Bad Breaks': Luka Doncic Not Enough in Mavs' Embarrassing Loss to Warriors
The Dallas Mavericks entered Tuesday night's matchup with the NBA's second-best Golden State Warriors looking for their 12th win in 14 games. The Mavs obliterated the Warriors in the first head-to-head matchup on January 5 for Dirk Nowitzki's jersey retirement game, but it was a much different story this time around, as Golden State ultimately pulled out a 130-92 win at Chase Center.
On what was mostly an embarrassing performance all around for the Mavs, Luka Doncic led the way for Dallas with 25 points, eight rebounds and three assists while shooting 7-of-17 from the field and 4-of-7 from deep in just 27 minutes of action. The fact that Doncic, who averages nine assists per game this season, only tallied three on the night tells you just how bad of a night the rest of the Mavs' supporting cast had.
To add insult to injury, or rather, injury to insult in this particular instance, Mavs sixth-man Tim Hardaway Jr. suffered a fracture in his left foot. The average absence for an injury like this in the NBA is about 10 weeks. Losing Hardaway Jr.'s 14 points per game will hurt a bench that has already had its struggles with Jalen Brunson becoming a full-time starter. Perhaps this will raise the Mavs' urgency to get some more help on the NBA trade market.
The Warriors were led by promising rookie Johnathan Kuminga tonight, who ended up scoring 22 points off the bench on 8-of-9 shooting from the field and 4-of-4 shooting from deep. Golden State had a well-balanced scoring effort, as seven players scored in double figures. Steph Curry finished with 18 points on the night.
After having the league's No. 1 defense since December 1, the flood gates opened in San Fransisco with the Warriors putting up 130 points on the Mavs in effortless fashion. Dallas will need to flush this one quickly and look to rebound in its upcoming 'easy' stretch of games.
Next up, it's a quick turnaround for the 27-21 Mavs as they take on the banged-up Portland Trail Blazers on the second night of a back-to-back. The Blazers will be without superstar point guard Damian Lillard, as he recently had abdominal surgery and is out indefinitely. The last time these two teams met, the Mavs pulled away with a 132-117 win without Doncic in the lineup. Porzingis led Dallas with a season-high 34 points in that one.
