Mavs Next Problems: Luka’s Health & Harden's Rockets
The Dallas Mavericks have certainly had some dramatic ups and downs in the early stages of this 2020-2021 season, with a latest 'up' being a 93-83 win over the Miami Heat at home just days after being run off the floor by the Charlotte Hornets. Could the Mavs finally string together consecutive good games with the Chicago Bulls up next?
They could not.
READ MORE: Doncic's Mavs Bounce Back With 93-83 Blowout of Heat
READ MORE: Brunson Duels LaVine in Doncic's Absence; Mavs Fall to Bulls
On this episode of the Mavs Step Back Podcast, Dalton Trigg and Matt Galatzan begin the weekend with a recap of the Mavs low-scoring win over the Heat. The win over Miami was the first for Dallas in nearly four years, and only the third victory against the Heat since the 2011 NBA Finals.
READ MORE: Whitt's End: Dallas Mavs 'Best 24 Minutes Ever' - Can They Get It Back?
But now, fast-forward to some issues.
Mavs superstar and MVP favorite Luka Doncic, who hadn't played well against Miami in four tries in his young career, finally broke through, putting up an impressive stat line with 27 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists. Doncic was also able to knock down three three-pointers as well, something that was great to see, given his early-season struggles shooting from beyond the arc.
Now, however, Luka is nursing a quad problem. And following the loss to Zach LaVine and the Chicago Bulls on Sunday night, the Mavs finish the roadie with James Harden and the Houston Rockets on Monday night.
"We’ll just have to see how he feels when he gets up tomorrow and if tomorrow is going to be a possibility or not,'' coach Rick Carlisle said in Chicago.
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The podcast took us into the weekend. DallasBasketball.com will have updates throughout the day on Luka's status in Houston. And we will follow Carlisle's lead on this, as he reflected on the Chicago-Houston back-to-back - and maybe the entire 2-4 start - by saying, "Bitching about it's just not going to do any good."
