Luka Doncic is going the smarter route and not saying a word about the Dallas Mavericks Monday night after a loss against the Los Angeles Clippers. The Mavs ended up losing a slugfest against the visiting Clippers, 109-99, with Dallas being awarded a franchise-low of just five free throws after 48 minutes of play. Obviously, this stat wasn't pleasing anyone on a Mavericks jersey including the two-time All-Star.
Luka Doncic's silence after the game was definitely louder than words.
“I'm not going to say anything,” Luka Doncic said (via Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News). “I'm not trying to get fined,”
"I'm not going to say anything. I'm not going to try to get fined," Doncic says when asked about Mavs' franchise-record-low-tying five free-throw attempts.
— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) March 16, 2021
In a losing effort, Luka Doncic did end up putting up another triple-double performance against the Clippers with 25 points, 10 boards, and 16 assists while Kristaps Porzingis contributed 22 points on 3-7 shooting from deep. These two Mavs starters were the only ones who have rewarded a trip to the line all evening as the European duo made 4/5 free throws in the loss.
On the other hand, the Clippers went to the line a total of 11 times and knocked down nine of them. Not much difference if you take a look at the box score but in a relatively close game like this, free throws down the stretch definitely help and Luka Doncic knows this.
The young Slovenian has been on the receiving end of a lot of criticism for the way he approaches the game especially the officials. But more recently, a more mature Luka Doncic has been in the spotlight as he's been visibly being more patient during games when the whistles aren't going their way.
Luka Doncic and the Mavs have a chance to get one back against the Clippers as they host them again on Wednesday. They will definitely make it a priority to get to the foul line and force officials to make tough calls on drives to the basket.
