Mavericks' Luka Doncic admits crucial mistake that led to Max Strus' buzzer-beater

The Mavericks star, despite putting up 45 points, sort of put the blame on himself for their gut-wrenching defeat against the Cavs.

For a second, it looked like Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks were going to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night. The Cavs had to converge on Doncic after the Slovenian superstar carved their defense up to the tune of 45 points, so the Mavericks star made them pay with a sweet dish to PJ Washington to give them a 119-118 lead. This was meant to devastate the Cavs, especially when they no longer had any timeouts left to advance the basketball.

However, Max Strus had other ideas. Strus, who was on a heater in the fourth quarter to help the Cavs keep in stride with the Mavericks, capped off his heroics in the final frame with an absurd buzzer-beating game-winner from beyond halfcourt, breaking the hearts of Mavs fans everywhere.

While Strus deserves all the credit for giving the Cavs the victory, Luka Doncic saw fit to assign blame to himself for what he perceived was his lackluster defense on the red-hot sniper on that fateful final possession.

“That was my fault. I should have pressed up more. I was the first one, so that was my bad,” Doncic said in his postgame presser, per Grant Afseth of Sports Illustrated. “Incredible shot. I have nothing much to say. Max hurt us in the 4th quarter a lot, but that was an incredible shot, man.”

If there's anyone who would have a much-greater appreciation for Max Strus' final shot, it's Luka Doncic. The Mavericks star brazenly attempted a full-court shot in the All-Star Game that went awry, so he should know, of all people, that great confidence can enable the best shooters in the world to make even the most ridiculous shots.

But it's truly difficult to blame Doncic for not pressing on Strus. Sure, the Mavericks star could have broke the Cavs sniper's rhythm by running up to him earlier, disrupting his stride. But the unfathomable game-winner from 60 feet was simply meant to be, a perfect capper to an insane shooting binge from Strus in the fourth quarter. Nonetheless, fumbling a game in quite the heartbreaking fashion will always leave a bad taste in the mouths of those on the losing end.