Luka Doncic with another great game against the Clippers but takes the loss

The Mavericks superstar had a monster game but couldn’t win the game in a close battle with the Clippers.

Luka Doncic was lighting up the Clippers in Dallas once again with a 45 point 15 rebound performance. The guard also had 8 assists to go along with that. Despite his great performance, the clippers managed to defeat the Mavericks 99-97. The Clippers have been without their star players Kawhi Leonard and Paul George for a while now but have managed to win games under the great coaching of Ty Lue.

The game was close throughout and came down to the last second. The Clippers held their ground against the Mavs with 3 players scoring more than 20 ( Reggie Jackson – 24 points, 5 assists, 8 rebounds, Terrence Mann – 21 points, 9 rebounds, and Marcus morris Sr. – 20 points) and a total of 5 players with double-digit scoring ( Amir Coffey – 11 points and Ivica Zubac – 11 points and 10 rebounds). The Mavs had only 2 players with double-digit scoring ( Jalen Brunson – 22 points and Reggie Bullock – 17 points) which wasn’t enough in the end.

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The game was at 98-97 with 8 seconds left on the clock. The Clippers inbounded the ball and Reggie Jackson did a good job of running out the clock before he got intentionally fouled by Brunson. Jackson missed the first free throw but made the second one making it a 2 point game. The Mavericks had possession with 3.4 seconds on the clock. They ran an inbound play for Luka, who shot a deep 3 but ended up air balling it.

The Mavericks made a surprising trade before the trade deadline and traded away their Center Kristaps Porzingis. The Center has been constantly injured throughout his career and has missed a lot of games. The decision seemed to be centred around making Luka the sole superstar of the team. When asked about whether the Mavs need a co-star for Luka, Head coach Jason Kidd said,’ It could be a team where there is no real second star. You’ve just got guys that play their roles at a very high level.’. He also referenced the 2011 Mavericks team that was built similarly with Dirk Nowitzki being the sole superstar on the team and they went on to win the championship.

While it is possible that the Mavericks can win with a phenomenal talent like Luka, the chances are extremely low especially in this era where super teams are being created every season and teams just continue to add on star power. It is too much to ask for a championship from Luka without helping him. A market like Dallas will find it easy to get superstars to come and play there. The front office could use the right incentives and the chance to partner up with Luka to convince players to join the Mavs and build a great team in Dallas.