After a scorching hot start to the new season, Luka Doncic has fallen back down to earth in the Dallas Mavericks' last two games. Luka's shots just haven't been falling over the past two contests, which unsurprisingly, has resulted in back-to-back losses for the Mavs.
Doncic himself admitted that fatigue has been a factor in his recent slump. Likewise, Mavs head coach Jason Kidd has already raised his own concerns regarding his superstar's extremely heavy workload early in the season. Kidd is adamant that this is not sustainable for both Doncic and the Mavs.
Right now, coach Kidd is challenging the rest of the team to step up:
“The big thing is understanding who’s going to help, who’s going to be consistent being that second, third, fourth player. We have a group. We don’t just have Robin next to him,” Kidd said, via Grant Afseth of FanNation. “We have a group of guys that have to participate. Right now we’ll have one or two participate, and then those two disappear, and then another two show up. We have to become consistent in that area.”
Jason Kidd is clearly asking for more consistency from his entire team. However, it's hard not to think that he has a specific player or players in mind when he came out with the Robin reference. The first two names that instantly pop up are Spencer Dinwiddie and Christian Wood, who as Kidd says, just need to show up on a nightly basis.
The Mavs coach also sent out a reminder about his team's defensive shortcomings. It's no secret that Luka Doncic is not the best defender in the league, and for his part, coach Kidd wants his team to make up for this fact by picking up the slack on defense:
“There are possessions (the Mavs) have to help Luka on defense because he’s doing so much on the offensive end,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said before Thursday’s game loss to the Washington Wizards. “We’ve got to be able to find that balance for him to participate defensively, so that helps us win games. But the usage rate is so high, so sometimes there’s going to be some situations where he doesn’t participate. It happens. Been there, done that.”
It's not all on the Mavs, though. Even coach Kidd himself admits that Doncic will need to be ready to let his other teammates take center stage. Kidd knows that at just 23 years old, Luka still has that sense of invincibility about him, but the Mavs shot-caller just wants to remind his superstar that he's only just human:
“These next couple of games we’re going to try to look at something different, and he has to trust us,” Kidd said. “Because he can easily say, ‘I don’t want to do that, I’m in a rhythm, I’m scoring 30-something a night. We’re winning some games.’
“I just think being able to show him what I see, and then there’s a respect and trust factor that we have for one another, and that helps. But the big thing is he’s from a different planet. He makes the game look so easy. It’s at a different speed. He’s not afraid of the moment, he loves the competition, and no matter who’s out there on the floor with him, he believes he can find a way to win.”
Luka Doncic and Co. are now 6-5, and they will look to get back to winning ways on Saturday went they take on Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers.
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