Luka Doncic takes the blame for Mavericks' latest loss: 'That was on me'

The Dallas Mavericks are discovering just how difficult it is to maintain the throne of the insanely competitive Western Conference.

The defending West champions entered the season with unwavering confidence after adding four-time NBA champion Klay Thompson. The former Golden State Warriors "Splash Brother" was hailed as the missing piece, and the five-time All-Star's arrival had Kyrie Irving declaring that Dallas' title "dreams are possible."

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The Mavericks sit a disappointing 12th place in the West with a 5-7 record after suffering a fourth straight loss Thursday in a 115-113 road defeat to the Utah Jazz, a 3-8 team that's happily positioning itself for a chance at the presumptive No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg.

Sometimes, the opposing offense is just better than your defense, which was the case last Tuesday when Steph Curry buried a "night night" 3-pointer over center Dereck Lively II and screamed into the camera in Thompson's much-anticipated Bay Area return.

Against the Jazz, though, it was just plain old bad D that did in Big D. And Doncic was the culprit in allowing John Collins' wide-open go-ahead dunk, as he lost sight of both ball and man.

Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd blamed the error on poor "communication."

"There was a lapse there," Kidd told reporters. "It happens, and they took full advantage of it. We got to be better."

Doncic put the loss squarely on him. "It was a misunderstanding," he told reporters. "I thought I was going to go hit, and (Quentin) Grimes thought he was going to go hit. And it was a lob, so we misunderstood the bench. That's on me."

Dallas currently has a better defensive rating (111.6 points per 100 possessions, 12th in the NBA) than last season (114.9, 18th), and its net rating (2.7) is better than 2023-24 (2.1).

The Mavericks are falling short in late-game execution. All four defeats in the current slide are one-possession losses. The skid began last Friday in a 114-113 setback against the Phoenix Suns, prompting Kidd to launch into a postgame rant about his "f---ing flat bench."

On Thursday, Kidd surmised that Dallas' tough stretch could be due to the team's "emotional week."

"Just the mental fatigue, the physical fatigue," Kidd told reporters. "So we’ve got to be cautious of that because we understand the league isn’t going to pause the games. But this has been an emotional week for everybody.”

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