The Dallas Mavericks are currently locked in a three-way battle with the Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns for the sixth and final outright playoff spot in the Western Conference. To that end, the Mavericks need to take care of business against inferior teams such as the San Antonio Spurs, and that's exactly what they did, taking a 113-107 win despite a nightmare outing from Luka Doncic.
A cursory glance at the box score will not tell the whole story of how bad a game it was for Doncic; the Mavericks star dropped 18 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 assists for his 18th triple-double of the season, but from the get-go, he could not buy a bucket. He scuffled to the tune of his worst shooting outing of the season, missing 21 of his 27 shot attempts in what was a historic outing for the Slovenian superstar.
At the very least, the Mavericks won. After all, at the end of the day, it's what matters to Luka Doncic, and he gave credit to his teammates for doing their part to lift him up amid a dreadful shooting night.
“We got a win, man. That's all that matters,” Doncic said, per Grant Afseth of Sports Illustrated. “We have a great team. That's why we got to win today. Everybody stepping on the court is playing hard, and in the end, we got a win, which we came here for.”
Kyrie Irving has been particularly exceptional as of late, with his painstakingly difficult game-winning left-handed floater from the free-throw line being the highest point thus far of his first full season for the Mavericks. But Luka Doncic knows how crucial the contributions from role players are. The Mavs' non-Irving and Doncic players shot 25-43 (58 percent) combined against the Spurs, helping them to victory lane.
“I think Dante played amazing, and Maxi too. Obviously Kai, you know, Kai carried us today, but even Dante and Maxi, down the stretch — they were big for us,” Doncic added. “We probably wouldn't have won this game [in the past], but the players we have around now, it's a little different, and it's amazing.”
The Mavericks, however, will be hard-pressed to win more games if Luka Doncic doesn't shoot better, so they'll be hoping that Doncic gets back on track on Thursday night against the Utah Jazz.
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