Mavs Coach Jason Kidd on Luka Doncic's Technical Fouls: 'He Has To Be Better'
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On Wednesday night, the Dallas Mavericks fell to the New Orleans Pelicans on the road, 113-106. It was the second night of a back-to-back for Dallas and its third game in four nights.
In the loss, Luka Doncic not only left the game in the third quarter due to his left thigh injury, but received his 15th technical foul in the process. if he gets called for his 16th technical, he'll be suspended for one game, per NBA rules.
"I'm really trying to be better," Doncic said. "I think the last few games wasn't that bad."
Mavs coach Jason Kidd, agrees that Doncic needs to be better about jawing with officials, but also noted that the entire team needed to be better as well.
"I think it's not just him, it's think it's everybody," Kidd said. "We talk about leaving the officials alone as a group. That's just something we all have to get better at. Again, in the battle and heat of the emotions of the game, sometimes it comes out."
Kidd is on the money there. In the heat of battle and the emotions of the game, you're bound to disagree with a call or bark at the officials every now and then, but it can't be every single play, which is what Doncic has been doing a lot of lately.
Night in and night out, Doncic is competing not only against the opposing team, but against the referees as well, which puts Dallas at a disadvantage in many instances. If Doncic ever wants to realize his MVP and championship aspirations, this is one area he must improve on.
"He knows, I think we all know he knows, too, that he's one away from the suspension, so he has to be better, but we all have to be better," Kidd said.
Kidd preached that veterans on the team like Kyrie Irving need to help Doncic know when to talk to the officials and when to 'let some of the plays go', especially being that he only has one more technical before being suspended.
"If I knew, I'd do it every time," Doncic joked of what he can do to avoid getting technicals. "For me, it's hard. Just the passion, trying to win games but for sure, I gotta get better."
Doncic is set to have an MRI on his strained thigh on Thursday and could miss some games depending on the severity of the injury. Given how beaten up he's looked lately, maybe an eventual one-game suspension wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for Doncic, as he'd get a forced day of rest ahead of the postseason.
He's obviously going to try to avoid that situation, but hey ... the Mavs will take any optimism they can get right now.
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