Luka Doncic was up to his old tricks again Saturday night at American Airlines Center. But unfortunately, this time the Dallas Mavericks couldn’t ride his success to another victory.
Still carrying a hot hand from Thursday’s historic output against the Los Angeles Clippers, Doncic finished Saturday’s outing against the Clippers with 45 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists. But that outlandish performance was not enough as the Clippers were able to weasel their way out of town with a slim 99-97 triumph at AAC.
However, the Clippers couldn’t actually celebrate until a long three-pointer by Doncic as time expired missed its mark.
The loss was just the sixth in the last 23 games for the Mavs, who dropped to 33-24 on the season. The Mavs have just two more games before the All-Star break — Tuesday in Miami and Thursday in New Orleans.
After Reggie Jackson split a pair of free throws with 3.4 seconds remaining in the game, the Mavs called timeout and set up a play that was designed to get the ball to Doncic. But with not an adequate amount of time to get off a decent shot, Doncic hoisted up a shot against a double-team and it fell short of its mark.
“I saw right away it was off,” Doncic said. “We had three seconds (remaining). Obviously, we could get a better shot.
“I saw DP (Dwight Powell) open, but I didn’t want to risk it because I didn’t know if it was going to be enough time to get a shot off.”
The anti-climatic finish spoiled yet another spectacular performance by Doncic, who scored 23 of the 30 points the Mavs’ tallied in the frantic fourth quarter and looked as though he was going to will them to another victory.
“It wasn’t a pretty game, but they fought and we put ourselves into a position to tie or to win it,” coach Jason Kidd said. “We had a good look. We just didn’t make it.”
The valiant effort by Doncic came on the heels of him pouring in a career-high 51 points during the Mavs’ 112-105 win over the Clippers on Thursday night. But on Saturday, no matter how hard Doncic tried, the Clippers just had a tad bit more under their sleeves to pull out the victory.
“You have to give credit to their game plan,” said Jalen Brunson, who popped in 22 points. “They stuck to their game plan and they executed.
“They switched everything and kind of kept everything fun and got Terance Mann shots. They dared us. We knew we didn’t make key shots.”
Mann manufactured the biggest play of the game when he snatched an offensive rebound after Reggie Jackson missed his second of two free throw attempts. A few seconds later, Jackson fired in a 3-pointer to push the Clippers’ lead to 97-89 with 1:15 remaining.
“They’re all big,” Kidd said of the offensive rebound by Mann. “I mean, down the stretch when you’re down, you’ve almost got to play perfect. But again, we put ourselves in a position to tie that game or win it.
“There late, guys did an incredible job of getting us back. Luka was great. And then we had the ball to tie it or win it. That’s all you can ask for. We didn’t play well tonight, but we found a way to put ourselves in a position to tie the game or win it.”
Doncic was sensational again, and also proved to be unguarded That includes kissing a short bank shot off the glass to get the Mavs within 98-97 of the Clippers with eight seconds remaining.
From there, Jackson converted one of two free throws with 3.4 seconds, opening the door for the Mavs to either tie the score or win it with a three-pointer. But Doncic said he knew the last-second three-pointer he took didn’t have a chance to find its intended destination.
“My first three quarters were awful, and (I had) no energy,” Doncic said. “We had a chance there to win or to tie the game.
“We put ourselves in position to win, and that’s a good thing. But obviously we could have handled things better.”
Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans — acquired Thursday in a trade with the Washington Wizards in exchange for Kristaps Porzingis and a protected 2022 second-round pick — didn’t dress for Saturday’s game. However, Kidd said they are expected to play against Miami.
Despite Doncic somewhat picking up where he left off Thursday, the Mavs found themselves in a pickle as they spent the lion’s share of the second half chasing the Clippers. It was not a great offensive output in the third quarter either for the Mavs, who scored just 19 points during those un-even 12 minutes.
“It was tough to score, but even though we only had 19 (in the third quarter) I think us giving them 21 was a plus given on the other hand as good as it could have been, considering we weren’t playing well offensively,” Brunson said. “It’s tough when you can’t score, but I think our defense kept us in it.”
Overall, Reggie Bullock complimented Doncic and Brunson by scoring 17. Meanwhile, Jackson and Mann paced the Clippers with 24 and 21 points, respectively, and Marcus Morris Sr. scored 20 points.
Doncic had nine points, seven rebounds and three assists as the Mavs held a 26-23 lead after the first quarter. In the meantime, Kidd said the Mavs aren’t placing too heavy of a burden on Doncic to bail them out of tight situations.
“No, that’s just his nature,” Kidd said. “He can find guys. The responsibility of his teammates is to make shots. This is a make-miss league. If you make shots, you put yourself in a position to win. That doesn’t guarantee you can win.
“You’ve got to play defense on the other end, too. Again, we held a team under 100 points — that always tends to give us a chance to win. Tonight, we just didn’t shoot the ball straight or take care of the ball and that’s hard when you play a team like the Clippers.”
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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