“Bounce back” is the tweet Luka Doncic sent out after the media was informed he wouldn’t be joining them in the Mavs locker room for post-game interviews. That is exactly what this team will have to do after a pretty dismal performance against the Clippers last night. It was a perfect storm of poor shooting and great physical defense that led to the Mavericks 114-99 loss, their first loss in 5 games. 

Doncic had what looked like his worst game of the season and somehow still managed to have a stat line that would make any normal NBA player envious. He ended the night at 22/8/6 with the majority of his points coming from free throws. Porzingis added yet another double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds, including one half-court shot that popped the crowd. Together they shot only 8 for 27. JJ Barea provided a spark off the bench, scoring 10 of his 12 total points in the 3rd quarter. Unfortunately, the Mavs had only 2 bench players with double digit scoring and only one player with more than 15.

The Clippers had strong showings from their star duo of Kawhi and PG. The two combined for 53 points. George had 6 of the Clippers 12 total steals. Lou Williams came off the bench to score 21 pts 6 rebs and 6 ast showing Dallas fans exactly why he’s a 3 time 6th man of the year. 

Carlisle spoke after the game about it being his responsibility to get the young players ready for a tough, physical game such as this one. “This is a game we’ve got to learn from and do better next time” Carlisle lamented in his post game presser. It seems like Carlisle may have already found the plan for their next meeting though considering there was only a 1 point disparity between the two teams after his halftime adjustments. Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait until the end of January to see this rematch though.

The Mavericks travel to Phoenix to take on Devin Booker and the Suns Friday night at 8:00PM.