Luka Doncic takes blame for Mavericks loss to Rockets

On By Littum

Through three quarters of Thursday’s loss to the Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic had just 14 points on 6/17 shooting, a trend of slow starts that has surrounded him to start this season. He was electrifying in the fourth quarter with 15 points on 6/8 shooting in the final frame, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the significant hole the Mavs found themselves in as they fell 108-102.

After the loss, Doncic took the blame for the loss and said he needed to be better moving forward.

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“It’s on me,” Doncic said in his postgame press conference. “I started off pretty bad, so I’ll take the blame because I have to do better than that. I know I can do it. I just have to focus and play my game.”

He wasn’t the only reason the Mavericks fell to Houston at the American Airlines Center, but he was the catalyst. His frustrations with bad calls or missed layups bled over to the rest of the team, and he was visibly upset when they couldn’t close out defensive possessions with a rebound.

The Rockets won in large part due to their efforts on the offensive glass, grabbing 18 offensive boards, leading to 20 second-chance points. They were also the recipients of some crazy mistakes from the Mavs.

Slow starts have doomed the Mavericks early, but they still have a 3-2 record through the first five games. If their offense can get off to a better start, they’ll be able to beat just about anyone, but they’re shooting under 40% in first quarters this season so far.

Doncic entered the season as the favorite to win the MVP, especially given the momentum he and the team carried over from last year’s trip to the NBA Finals, but Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has now passed Doncic one week into the season at FanDuel. There’s still plenty of time for Doncic to right himself and get back on track for the MVP, but his start to the season has been mostly concerning, outside of his performance in Phoenix.

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