“He did everything to help his team” - Kidd on Doncic

The Dallas Mavericks lost Game 1 against the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference semifinals despite a massive night for their star Luka Doncic.

The loss can’t be blamed on Doncic, who did everything he could to help bring the team to victory, including putting up 45 points. He had very little support from his teammates. Four of the other starters combined only accounted for 39 points, not even matching what Doncic did all by himself. But the Mavericks have a lot of problems to solve going forward. The No. 1 Suns are not the same team as the Jazz, who they defeated in the first round.

Head coach Jason Kidd said that Doncic played great in every aspect. “He got whatever he wanted,” said Kidd. “When you look at the shots, in the paint, behind the arc, mid-range, and then also I thought he got his teammates some great looks that we normally would have made.”

What do the Mavs need to do to defeat the Suns?

The Suns are not the Jazz, but the Mavs can use a few things they learned from their victory over Utah to help them in this series with the Suns. They will have to adapt it to Phoenix’s style of play though, which is vastly different.

1. Fix the defense.

Doncic was right when he said the defense helped lose them Game 1. It was what helped them not lose to the Jazz, who had the highest offensive rating in the league during the regular season. The Mavs allowed the Suns to shoot 32 points from mid-range. Their strategy of limiting 3-pointers worked against the Jazz, but not the Suns. They have to adjust their defensive strategy to account for the mid-range shots the Suns are so comfortable shooting.

2. Improved play from Brunson and Dallas bench

Guards Jalen Brunson and Spencer Dinwiddie put up a measly 13 and eight points, respectively. The Mavericks have to have better production from those two if they want a chance at beating Phoenix in this series. They should also give more playing time to Maxi Kleber and Dorian Finney-Smith, who was perhaps the best at defending against DeAndre Ayton in Game 1. They need Dinwiddie and Kleber to sink the open shots and score much more than they did in Game 1.

3. Keep Luka dominant and hit more 3s

If the Mavericks could have stopped the mid-range shots, they would have maybe had more opportunities. In their series against the Jazz, they shot 37.1 percent and need to do even more against the Suns. Kleber at least shot five threes and was the only other player contributing in the first half besides Doncic. The Mavs have the advantage on threes in this series as the Suns only attempted 27.2 throughout their series vs the Pelicans. Luka got 45 points, 12 rebounds, and eight assists, and though Kidd credits him for doing everything possible, there’s still potential for the superstar to do even more damage.