“He’s human” -Doncic’s off night easily forgiven by team

The Dallas Mavericks should have had an easy breezy win over the lowly San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday. Instead, they did win, but it was much more of a struggle than it should have been with the two unbalanced Texas teams. It was Luka Doncic’s worst shooting game of the season, by a long shot. He made just six of his 27 shot attempts, finishing the game with a measly 18 points. Even his deep shooting was poor, going just 2-of-12 from deep.

Doncic is human

Even with his bad shots, Doncic was able to put up 10 rebounds and 16 assists to complete another triple-double.

“He’s human...I mean, he still had a triple double,” said Mavs coach Jason Kidd. “I know that’s boring, and it wasn’t pretty, but to be able to have a triple double... and then to be able to rebound, I thought his leadership and trust down the stretch was big.”

Teammate Kyrie Irving echoed Kidd’s thoughts, explaining that off-nights are normal even for the best players. He emphasized how Doncic dealt with the off-night, contributing in other areas and leading the team to victory.

“I like that he was still aggressive in terms of coming off the pick and roll and making plays,” said Irving. “He had 16 assists tonight, 10 rebounds... those shots he normally makes, they’ll go in moving forward. I’m not worried.”

“He did all the little things,” said Kidd. “But for his standards, or the standards we all hold him to...it just wasn’t his shooting night. But he found a way to lead his team to victory.”

In the end, the Mavs won 113-107 and Doncic gave all the credit to his teammates, calling out Irving, Dante Exum, and Maxi Kleber. “We have a great team. That’s why we got to win today,” said Doncic. “Everybody stepping on the court is playing hard, and in the end, we got a win, which we came here for.” That win put the Mavs up to 40-29 on the season, which is good enough for the seventh seed, and creeping up on the sixth.