Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic is making a habit of putting up monster numbers in playoff games. In fact, Doncic's 45 points in Game 1 against the Phoenix Suns gives the Mavs star a playoff scoring average of 33.4 points per game, matching Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan for the highest of all time.
Unfortunately, Doncic's 45 points were not enough, with a late surge led by the Mavs phenom making the 121-114 loss seem closer than it really was. The Suns led by 21 points in the fourth quarter before taking the foot off the gas, allowing Doncic and company to make a late run to make things semi-interesting.
After the game, Doncic highlighted several areas in which the Mavs must be better. He included himself in this analysis, noting he settled for too many jumpers and that he must attack more.
“We've just got to attack more paint,” said Doncic, whose career postseason scoring average of 33.4 points matches that of Michael Jordan for the highest in NBA history. “I settled for a little too much step-backs for me. Attacking the paint is our lethal weapon. When we do that, we can score easily, especially with 5-out and they've got a big rotating. We've got to attack more paint.”
Doncic also lamented the play of the defense, which routinely got torched by the home team until the end of the game. The Mavs' defense has been a strong spot this season, but it was not in fine form on Monday:
“I think our defense lost us the game today,” Doncic said. “Our start on the defensive end was terrible, and we've got to change that. I know we can play way better defense.”
Phoenix shot over 50% from the field, and that's despite going really cold down the stretch when the game was out of hand. Doncic can keep putting up huge games, but the Mavs will have no chance if they can't stop the Suns' high-powered attack.
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