Doncic already thinking about making improvements in the offseason

SAN FRANCISCO – Before Thursday’s season-ending 120-110 loss to the Golden State Warriors in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals at Chase Center, Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd talked about Luka Doncic learning some of the finer points of the game on the fly this season.

Despite Doncic earning first-time all-NBA for the third time this season – putting the stamp on him being one of the top five players in the world — Kidd knows there’s another level his superstar point guard can go to.

“He’s done a great job of learning on the fly,” Kidd said. “For (Doncic), this is his first time playing until late May. He’s played a lot of basketball.”

And Doncic revealed that although the Mavs’ basketball season has ended, he won’t have much time to reflect on the journey this team took from elevating from a 16-18 record in late December to vaulting all the way to a berth in the conference finals.

“In the offseason, I don’t think I’m going to have a lot of time to think about the NBA,” Doncic said. “I just saw my schedule (to play for the Slovenian national team), so it’s not a lot of off time.

“But not just this game, this series I think you can see the championship team the Warriors are. But we got to learn how to be that. They were amazing every game. They were there and they deserved to win.”

Doncic scored at least 30 points in the first four games of this series, and wound up with 28 points on 10-of-28 shots in Game 5, and also collected nine rebounds and six assists. But he also had six points at halftime, including none in the second quarter.

“We can all agree it wasn’t his best game, but this is a great lesson for him and for everyone,” Kidd said. “You look at Steph (Curry, who had only 15 points and nine assists and was 5-of-17 from the floor), it probably wasn’t a Steph type night. But Klay (Thompson, who scored 32 points) goes big.

“So just understanding that we need Luka to go big a lot of nights just to give us a chance, and unfortunately the ball just didn’t go for him tonight.”

The Mavs leaned on Doncic a lot this season, and he answered the bell admirably.

“I think he carries the load as well as anyone, and I think for us as an organization we’ll help lighten that load as we go forward,” Kidd said. “But I thought the group of guys around him helped carry the load, also, when he didn’t have the Luka type night.

“But I think when you look at the parts of his game, they’re all above average. They’re all excellent. It’s just now being able to play the game within the game, and that’s what we’ll really talk about.”

And when the Mavs meet to discuss ways to improve the team, Doncic will certainly have a seat at the table.

“He’s part of the council,” Kidd said. “We run things by him. We have a great relationship.

“Again, I’m here to help him achieve that goal, and that’s to win a championship.”

Doncic said what the Mavs were able to accomplish this season was no surprise to him, his teammates or the coaching staff.

“We knew we were able to do this,” he said. “I know nobody had us here, but (that’s) nothing new.

“I love this team. I think we did a great job. From the whole playoffs we fought. At the end it was impossible, but I really enjoyed playing with those guys.”

Doncic is looking forward to building off the success the Mavs enjoyed this season, and hopeful of reaching the next level next season.

“I think we are a young team,” he said. “I think this year we made a huge, huge step — maybe a couple steps. I think we are in a great way.

“Obviously there’s a lot of things to do. But I think, like I say, we made a huge step and I think we are on a great path.”

From a personal standpoint, Doncic knows the biggest improvement he has to make, and he’s more than eager to start that part of his journey.

“I think defense has got to be way better for me,” he said. “Honestly, I think I made a huge step this year defensively, but there’s so much room for improvement.

“I’ve got to be way better there. I think that’s one spot that can take us to the next level.”

Kidd has no doubt Doncic will make those improvements on defense.

“He’s going to get better,” Kidd said. “By being in this situation more will only help him. This is his fourth year in the league and he’s gone to the (Western) Conference Finals. That’s pretty good.

“I’ll go visit him at some point (in the offseason). I’ll go see him on his turf. Then we’ll sit down and I’ll talk about a game plan and he’ll tell me if it’s good or not, and if it’s good, then we’ll roll. If not, then I’ve got to go back to the drawing board.”

And that drawing board will consist of a lot of back-and-forth, and making sure Kidd and Doncic are on the same page.

“I think his growth of playing off the ball, we asked him to come off the ball and get behind the defense, and he was all for it,” Kidd said. “So I think the next step is just understanding how long the season really is if you want to win a championship, and I think this is a good start for him.”

FOLKS REACHED OUT TO KERR: Warriors coach Steve Kerr said a lot of people have reached out to him following the passionate speech he gave prior to Game 4 in regards to the 19 kids and two teachers who were murdered during an elementary school shooting in Uvalde.

Kerr said most of the folks wanted to know how they can help.

“So many people want to help and want to know how they can make an impact,” Kerr said. “You know, for whatever reason, it’s a political issue, but it’s really a public health issue. As soon as we can just shift the dynamic to this being a public health issue, then you get momentum. So what I’m asking people to do is to get involved in their local communities.

“There’s lots of amazing gun safety, gun prevention groups out there. Call your senators. Call your representatives. It’s all very helpful. But again, this is — I’ve got lots of friends who are Democrats. I’ve got lots of friends who are Republicans. All I know is they all want gun violence to go away. We just need to get our public servants to respond to what we all want. I don’t know how to do that, but we’re going to try.”

BRIEFLY: Asked if he’s surprised the Mavs reached the Western Conference Finals this season, coach Jason Kidd said: “I think when you look at the journey we’ve been on since the beginning, you just don’t know. We talk about learning your team or understanding who you are by Christmas. You know, with COVID and injuries, the slow start, we kind of knew what we had. But as we continued that journey, we started to figure out who we wanted to be. That’s what’s helped us get to this point. They are true believers that they can compete and play against anyone.”. .This is the Warriors’ sixth trip to the NBA Finals in the past eight seasons. The last team who had such a string were the Chicago Bulls, who advanced to the NBA Finals in ‘91, ’92, ’93, ’96, ’97 and ’98, and won the championship in all six of those years. The Warriors recently won NBA titles in 2015, ’17 and ’18. . .Counting the 82 regular season games, Thursday was the 100^th game center Dwight Powell played this season. He’s the only member of the Mavs to play in every regular season and postseason game this season. “That’s huge,” Kidd said. “Shows how he’s taking care (of himself) mentally and physically, and then just what he does to prepare for work. To be able to count on him or pin him in as a starter or someone who is available to play every night, that helps as a coach but also as a teammate to be consistent. That’s a great accomplishment for Dwight and hopefully we can get more guys to do that.”

Twitter: @DwainPrice