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NBA

Mavs’ Luka Doncic believes his team can turn things around vs Warriors

With a few comebacks already under their belt in this post season, could the Mavericks really do what’s never been done before?

Paul Rudder
Update:
Mavs’ Luka Doncic believes his team can turn things around vs Warriors
Kevin JairajUSA TODAY Sports

Though there is still a mountain to climb for the Mavericks in the series, their star remains confident that they can do just that as they head for Game 5.

Mavs’ Luka Doncic believes they can beat the Warriors

Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic has no time to harp on the idea that his team narrowly avoided a sweep at the hands of the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night. The Slovenian has his mind firmly set on overturning the series and going on to the NBA finals. Needless to say that if they were to manage that feat, they’d make history. In fact, should the Mavs manage to reverse what was a 3-0 lead in the series for the Warriors, they’d become the first team in NBA history to do so in a playoff series. To bring some perspective, there have been 146 teams in the past who have found themselves in that spot and not one of them ever got out of it. Doncic, however, sees things a little differently.

Speaking after their 119-109 win in Tuesday’s Game 4, the Mavericks’ main man was defiant to say the least. “I mean, I still believe we can win, you know,” Doncic said. “Swept or not swept, in the end, if you lose, you lose. Don’t matter how many we win. We have to go game by game. We’re going to believe until the end.”

Do the Dallas Mavericks have comebacks in their DNA?

While the idea of overturning a 3-0 deficit is like to raise a few eyebrows, let’s not forget that this is the same team that came back from 2-0 down against the No. 1 seeded Phoenix Suns and then again were forced to rally when the series went to 3-2 in the Conference semifinals. In the end the Suns were eliminated in brutal fashion as they fell in what was ultimately a Game 7 blowout by 33 points. It was in fact the biggest win by a team on the road in the playoffs since 1948. The point here is that if there is a team who just might be able to do what’s never been done, could the Mavericks be that team?

Luka Doncic made history against the Warriors

Where the 23 year old Doncic is concerned, he’s certainly doing his part. Named once again - its been three straight seasons - to the first-team All-NBA, Doncic also turned in a historic performance on Tuesday night with 30-points, 14-rebounds and nine-assists against the warriors. How was that history making? According to ESPN, Doncic drew level with Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor as the only other player in NBA history to score at least 30 points in each of their first five potential elimination games. With that said, the Mavs’ talisman had no time to ponder accolades. “I just want to win the game and that’s it,” Doncic said. “We got more to do, you know. This is nothing. We got three more.”

How did the Mavs vs Warriors Game 4 play out?

In truth the Game looked to be going the way of the Mavericks from the outset. Dallas was able to amass a 29 point lead after the first three quarters courtesy of what has to be considered almost total domination of the zone. Head coach Jason Kidd called it “a compliment...because they can’t guard us one-on-one.” Indeed with Dallas shooting 19 of 36 from beyond the arc, it was essentially only a matter of time before Warriors coach Steve Kerr took his starters off the court. “We weren’t alert tonight defensively,” said Kerr. “We weren’t sharp. And I thought we let them kind of get into a groove, and once a team like that gets into a 3-point groove, it’s tough to get them out of it.”

The Warriors can, however, take some positives from the game. With starters out and reserves on the court, Golden State actually managed to cut the lead to single digits with just 3:23 left on the clock. It was at that point that Kerr reintroduced Stephen Curry, Andrew Wiggins and Klay Thomas. Though Doncic would take the lead back to 10 at which point the Mavs pulled away, Kerr and his charges will know where they went wrong. As for the Mavs, coach Kidd was calm and collected in his comments post game. “There’s no panic,” Kidd said. “We had a pretty big lead. They had to make a decision. They brought their group back in and couldn’t get it done.” With that we now head back to San Francisco for Game 5 on Thursday. Will the Warriors close it out or will the Mavs extend the series even further. According to Mavs forward Dorian Finney-Smith, that’s what they intend to do, “Everybody in that locker room feels like we have more basketball to play. ...We just wanted to get the win by any means necessary.”