DALLAS — A 137-120 home loss to the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday night continued a disturbing trend for the Dallas Mavericks: Another monstrous triple-double line from Luka Doncic didn’t matter because of dreadful defense.
Doncic had 39 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists in the loss, but the Mavericks were outscored by 18 points in their All-Star’s 43 minutes. He joined Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook as the only players in NBA history to post 35-point triple-doubles in three consecutive games, according to ESPN Stats & Information research, but the Mavericks are 0-3 in that stretch.
The Mavericks are 6-6 in Doncic’s league-leading 12 30-point triple-double performances this season.
Dallas has lost five of its last six games despite Doncic averaging 37.3 points, 9.8 rebounds and 11.3 assists during that stretch, slipping to eighth place in the Western Conference standings with a 34-28 record, only a half-game above the Los Angeles Lakers.
“It doesn’t matter,” Doncic said of his historic recent production. “I just want to win, man. That’s it.”
For the Mavericks to win, they’ll have to figure out how to fix a defense that ranks dead last in efficiency since the All-Star break. Dallas has allowed 126.0 points per 100 possessions over that seven-game span. That’s 3.5 points worse than the Washington Wizards, who have the second-worst defense since the break and are mired in a 15-game losing streak.
Doncic didn’t have any immediate answers for how the Mavs can address their glaring problem.
“I don’t know, honestly,” said Doncic, the NBA’s leading scorer at 34.6 points per game. “We know we got to fix it.”
Dallas coach Jason Kidd said the Mavericks “tried everything” from a schematic perspective against the Pacers, who had nine players score in double figures with All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton contributing 19 points and 11 assists.
Kidd indicated that he would consider altering the starting lineup and perhaps tightening the Mavs’ 10-man rotation before Thursday’s home game against the Miami Heat.
“We got the personnel. We got the team,” said Kidd, whose club had a season-best seven-game winning streak before its current 1-5 rut. “This is actually a great test for us to be able to go through a hard time in March because it only gets harder in April and May and June. And so this is a great test to be tested in the sense that we’re going to let go of the rope or we’re going to continue to come to work. Everyone’s coming to work. Everyone has the positive mindset, energy.
“Everyone’s trying to do the right thing right now.”
Doncic has taken considerable pride in his improvement on the defensive end this season, averaging career bests in steals (1.4 per game) and blocks (0.6) and rating respectably in many individual defensive metrics.
However, Doncic has struggled defensively during his three-game run of 35-point triple-doubles. Dallas has allowed 133.5 points per 100 possessions with Doncic on the floor during the three-game losing streak and has been outscored by 29 points in his 120 minutes.
Kidd said the Mavericks must be able to cover for Doncic defensively because they lean so heavily on him to create offense.
“Are we asking too much? I don’t know if we’re asking,” Kidd said. “This is what he does. He’s one of the best offensive players on the planet, and so this is what he does and so we have to help him on that end and we have to also help him on the defensive end. This isn’t a surprise; he’s been doing this pretty much his whole career.
“He’s a walking triple-double. He’s doing everything to help the team win. We all have to pitch in and help him.”
This story originally appeared on ESPN
