Dallas Mavs Seek to Build on 'Great' 5-Game Road Trip

The Mavs finished a five-game road trip going 4-1 following a loss against the Warriors.

Apr 2, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) stands on the / Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

DALLAS — While the Dallas Mavericks ended a five-game road trip with a 104-100 loss against the Golden State Warriors, the team still produced an impressive 4-1 record during this stretch.

With two wins against the Sacramento Kings, the Mavs face a much greater outlook to avoid the play-in tournament after previously being in a tightly contested race for the sixth seed.

"I think it's a great road trip, especially since we had to fly to Texas and back to California," Doncic said. "So, it's a long road trip, as long as I've ever been part of. But I think it's a good road trip. You know, 4-1 is great."

It was challenging for both opponents and travel, requiring multiple back-and-forth trips from Texas to Northern California. Kyrie Irving acknowledged the human element of those challenges, stating how the impact was felt during the final game despite the Mavs wanting to get a fifth win on the trip to go 5-0.

“I mean, I’m human just like the rest of my teammates,” Irving said. “So, 10 days on the road, definitely feeling it this last game. We wanted to get this one really bad, but we just didn’t do enough on the offensive end and defensive end and it showed tonight.”

Against the Warriors, the Mavs continued to showcase their resilience. The team trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half but managed to rally back before the break, trailing just

“We never give up,” Doncic said. “I think we had three great looks (down the stretch). P.J. had a catch-and-shoot, Kai had a catch-and-shoot, I had a catch-and-shoot, open catch-and-shoot three times.”

With Draymond Green back in the lineup for the first time against the Mavs this season, Dallas saw a different Warriors defense that had recently tightened up significantly entering the matchup. Being held to 100 points was the third-lowest scoring total in a game played with Doncic in the lineup this season and the lowest since January 1. The Mavs were satisfied with the quality of their shots and appreciated the persistence despite the execution not being there.

“We had some great looks on the offensive end, but I think it’s just the character of the group,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. “When you look at this road trip, we’ve been down, we haven’t played well.

“We’ve stayed together and we understand that there’s two halves to the game," Kidd continued. "We got off to a good start in the third, they make a run, but again that fourth quarter, our defense kept us in the game.”

As a leader of the team, Irving emphasized how the team is focused on achieving incremental progress — a sentiment he's shared throughout the season as a leader — as opposed to being fixated on coming short of perfection.

"It was a great road trip. I'm trying my best to let my ego perfectionist side seep in right here and say, 'Well, I wish you we should have gone 5-0.' But we're not seeking perfection. We're seeking incremental progress and being able to be tested in situations like this so we can be prepared for the playoffs. That's how I see it.

"So this road trip was definitely great," Irving continued. "We learned a lot about each other and I think we made up for some of the other games that we had on the previous road trip where we let our guard down or we were in the game."

Managing to hold the Warriors to 104 points provided the Mavs with confidence about where their defense stands amidst recent continued improvement.

“I thought we fought hard,” Washington said. “Holding a team like that to 104 in their building is very good. Obviously, there’s some things we can work on and learn from in this game.

“I’m happy with the way we came out and fought for the whole game. I’m not disappointed or I don’t feel like we ran out of gas this game. I just feel like there’s some things we could have cleaned up and we could have definitely won this game.”

The Mavs will play three games in four nights at American Airlines Center beginning with a matchup against the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday night followed by a rematch with the Warriors on Friday.