Mavs Postgame LISTEN: Doncic, Irving Fall Flat vs. Lakers; Coach Kidd's Accountability?
Things were looking good early on for the Dallas Mavericks in their Sunday matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers, as they held a 48-21 lead in the second quarter. But then, all of a sudden, the wheels started to fall off the wagon.
LeBron James and the Lakers chipped away at that 27-point deficit and got it down to 14 points by the time halftime rolled around. Then, at the end of the third quarter, the Lakers were within three points heading to the final period. In the fourth, James immediately tied the game with a 3, and the Mavs went on to lose to the Lakers, 111-108.
Luka Doncic led the way for the Mavs with 26 points, nine rebounds and five assists, but he let the officiating and the tenacious defense of Jarred Vanderbilt distract him throughout the night. He finished with six turnovers.
Kyrie Irving had his worst shooting game as a Maverick, as he finished with 21 points on 8-22 shooting overall and 2-10 from deep -- including a last-second prayer from half court to attempt to tie the game that didn't hit iron.
Although the Mavs' best players had off-games by their high standards, coach Jason Kidd had an objectively bad coaching performance in this one as well.
Throughout the game, Kidd was waiting too late to call timeouts, refusing to play Christian Wood more on Anthony Davis instead of Dwight Powell -- who played hard, but ultimately didn't stand a chance at stopping Davis -- and not drawing up more plays that featured actions between Doncic and Irving. This loss falls on his shoulders as much as it does his players, but according to his postgame comments, he seems to think otherwise.
“I’m not the savior here. I’m not playing," Kidd said. "I'm watching just like you guys, and as a team, we gotta mature, and we've got a lot of new bodies coming back, and we gotta grow up if we want to win a championship. There's no young team that's ever won a championship, mentally or physically."
Kidd is correct when he says his team -- most notably, Doncic -- has to mature, but "watching just like you guys" is part of the problem as well. When you have two of the best scorers in the league on your team, it's your responsibility as a coach to put them in the best position to succeed ... and to not blow a 27-point lead at home.
You can listen to our entire Mavs Step Back postgame podcast right here, as we discuss all of these topics further:
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