Luka Doncic on Finishing Out Mavs Regular Season: 'We Have to Just Refocus'

With just nine games remaining in the regular season for Dallas and the Western Conference playoff picture changing on night-to-night, Luka Doncic knows the Mavericks must figure it out.

Michael Mulford | Mar 23, 2023

In this story:

Dallas Mavericks

The Western Conference playoff picture is in an absolute frenzy, and the Dallas Mavericks find themselves in the middle of it with just nine games remaining in the regular season.

Following Wednesday night's loss to the Golden State Warriors, which was met with a bit of controversy in the third quarter, the Mavs fell from the No. 7 seed to the No. 9 seed in the West, sitting just a half-game ahead of the No. 11 and 12 seeds, which would put them outside of the play-in tournament.

Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic spoke to the media after yet another clutch-time loss in the most crucial time of the season.

"The mood is not good obviously. Every time you lose it’s bad. We have to figure out what is next," Doncic said.

Luckily for the Mavs, though, Doncic is finally back on the court after a five-game absence, and he looked and felt good on Wednesday. He finished with 30 points and 17 rebounds in 41 minutes.

"Good. I think a little better than I expected," Doncic said of how he felt in his first game in two weeks. "I missed a couple of shots. I just tried to get back."

Despite the impressive overall numbers, Doncic shot just 11-27 from the field, including 2-10 from deep. He also went just 6-10 from the free-throw line. In what ended up being a two-point loss, all those misses hurt even worse, but the Mavs know they had many other opportunities to make up for it and didn't.

Dallas' schedule eases up over the next few games, including back-to-back games against the 23-50 Charlotte Hornets followed up by a trip to visit old friend Rick Carlisle and the Indiana Pacers.

"We have one more home game and then a long road trip which is always tough," Doncic said. "We have to just refocus."

Want the latest in breaking news and insider information on the Dallas Mavericks? Click Here.

Follow DallasBasketball.com on Twitter and Facebook.

Published Mar 23, 2023

MICHAEL MULFORD

Michael Mulford is a writer/editor for Dallas Basketball, where he extensively covers the Dallas Mavericks. He also covers the Chicago Bulls as the Managing Editor for Bulls Wire of USA Today Sports Media Group. Mulford grew up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and graduated from the University of North Texas in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in Recreation, Event, and Sports Management. He began his pursuit of sports writing in 2017 with Dallas Sports Fanatic, where he covered the Mavericks’ G League affiliate, Texas Legends. He then became the Managing Editor of Dallas Sports Fanatic just one year later and has covered the Mavericks as a credentialed media member since 2018, including covering numerous playoff games between 2021-22 and covering the team at NBA Summer League in Las Vegas in 2019. In his time covering the Mavericks, Mulford has conducted numerous interviews for exclusive stories including with Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki, former Maverick and current VP of Basketball Ops Michael Finley, former Mavericks GM Donnie Nelson, and more. You can follow and interact with Mulford on Twitter at @TheMulf.