Mavs Talk: ‘I’m Still Learning A Lot’ - Luka Doncic After WCF Game 3 Loss
For the Dallas Mavericks, the Western Conference Finals have not gone according to plan. Most recently, the Mavs fell 109-100 to the Golden State Warriors in Game 3 on Sunday night at American Airlines Center, falling down 3-0 in the series.
Once again, Doncic performed well statistically, finishing with 40 points and 11 rebounds. However, the young star admitted that he still has room to grow:
“The first three quarters, I played very bad. That’s on me. I’m still learning. I think after this season is done, whenever we are, I’m going to look back and learn a lot of things. This is my first conference finals in NBA. I’m 23, man. I’m still learning a lot.”
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Jalen Brunson and Spencer Dinwiddie contribute meaningfully, scoring 20 and 26 points respectively. Once again, the balanced Warriors offense overpowered Dallas's defense. Warriors guard Stephen Curry shined, scoring 31 points and adding 11 rebounds.
Now, the Mavs will try to accomplish something no NBA team ever has — come back from a 3-0 series deficit.
Now let's hear the Mavs talk:
Doncic on the state of the series:
“It's not over yet, but it's not going to be easy. The Warriors are not going to give you anything easy. I think we're going to learn a lot, and we're still learning, but like we've got to come 100 percent every game.”
Doncic on the team’s shot selection:
“I think we relied too much on the three. We weren't attacking the paint that much. But we got to attack the paint more, like they did. They attacked the paint a lot. They have two of the best shooters in the world, and they still attack the paint.”
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Jason Kidd on what went wrong:
“They're a team of runs. They went on a run, and again, we gave up 30 points in that third. Just understanding you can't give them second opportunities. When you give them second opportunities, Klay and Steph and Wiggins -- Wiggins is playing at a high level for them. They've been here before, so they understand what they have to do, and they did it tonight.”
Kidd on finding a way back into the series:
"Yeah, it's just one game. We'll get ready for Game 4, and that's all we can focus on. I think I said this in the last series. This is just the beginning of this journey."
Dinwiddie on momentum swing:
"Yeah, I mean, they've won championships. They've played at a high level for a long time. They're known to do that, to your point. We didn't necessarily respond. That's why you had the swing in momentum."
Brunson on the third quarter:
"We've just got to pick it up third quarter, fix our rebounding. When things get tough, you've got to stick together. That's something that we've been able to do all year, so we've just got to stick together."
On Tuesday night, the Mavericks will get another opportunity to challenge the Warriors. If they win, they’ll continue in the series with a Game 5 in San Francisco on Thursday.
