While Luka Doncic sat out Saturday's Game 1 against the Utah Jazz, he still played a key role in helping the Dallas Mavericks put up a valiant fight until the end.
Doncic was on the bench for the Mavs as they faced off against the Jazz. More than just cheering for the team, though, the Slovenian superstar tried to motivate his teammates as well when they were trailing by a significant margin in the fourth quarter.
According to Dorian Finney-Smith, Luka's message helped him and the rest of the Mavs stay focused on the game and their main goal.
“When they was up nine or eight in the fourth quarter, [Luka] was telling us we still can win the game,” Finney-Smith shared, per Callie Caplan of the Dallas Morning News. “That really helped us, too, because we battled. We battled all the way to the end, and Royce O’Neale hit a big shot. That was a real big shot.
“He didn’t make a shot all game until that one, so if we guard like we did tonight, we’ll give ourselves a chance next game.”
The Mavs fell behind by 11 points with 5:58 remaining in the fourth quarter, and as Dorian Finney-Smith mentioned, this was when Luka Doncic came in to push his teammates forward. They were able to cut the lead to just one point, 92-91, with just two minutes remaining in the game, but Royce O'Neale banked a clutch triple to give the Jazz a four-point lead.
![[NBA awards] Nikola Jokic next to Luka Doncic, Victor Wembanyama, Jalen Brunson, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwp.clutchpoints.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F04%2F2024-NBA-awards-Official-picks-for-MVP-All-NBA-more-150x150.jpg&w=320&q=75)
Dallas hoped to get a win in order to not put too much pressure on Doncic to rush his return. Unfortunately, they were unable to get the job done as the Jazz went away with the 99-93 victory. Still, the way they played is an encouraging sign, as they proved they can compete even without their best player.
Hopefully, though, Doncic gets back to 100% health sooner rather than later.
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