Luka Doncic Seeks Better Shot Selection on Mavs' Final Plays

The Dallas Mavericks had a chance to win both of the games they lost to start the 2022-23 season had a game-winning shot converted. What happened on the plays?

The Dallas Mavericks have lost two of their initial three games to start the 2022-23 NBA season. In both of those losses, there was a chance for the Mavs to win had a step-back 3-pointer from Luka Doncic resulted in a made basket.

“Two hard shots,” Doncic said. “Two or three seconds. So, I probably should get a better shot than that.”

The outcome of both games goes far deeper than the final shot attempt of the game. There was significant room for improvement when the Mavs lost to the Phoenix Suns 107-105 on opening night and when a shorthanded New Orleans Pelicans squad defeatured them 112-111. 

While that may be the case, the final play itself is still crucial to execute at a high level. What happened that led to the Mavs' potential game-deciding shot attempts in their two losses to start the season?

Game-Winning Shot Attempt vs. Phoenix Suns

In the Mavs' opening night loss to the Phoenix Suns, they had put themselves in a position where they trailed 107-102 with 9.7 seconds left to play. Christian Wood wasn't on the floor for the final possession after Spencer Dinwiddie subbed into the game. Dallas did not have any timeouts remaining. 

With Doncic being guarded by Bridges at the start of the possession, Dinwiddie sets a ball screen at midcourt to get Damion Lee switched onto Doncic. That worked. Bridges switched onto Dinwiddie, and Lee was guarding Doncic. However, the rest of the play did not offer advantages.

Dorian Finney-Smith doesn't fill the strong side corner until Doncic has already begun making his right-to-left crossover dribble to flow into the step-back 3-pointer. Finney-Smith also isn't even shot-ready until the step-back is being attempted, either. All while that developed, Devin Booker was enabled to comfortably station himself on the elbow to be in a position to help on a possible drive.

Dinwiddie's focus seemed to be on obstructing Bridges, and the end result is an overloaded defense with a defender in position to contest Doncic's step-back. 

As the Mavs get comfortable with Wood closing games and not changing out lineup combinations for situational reasons, perhaps the approach there could have been to bring Wood into the play as opposed to Dinwiddie. Such an approach would have forced Ayton to defend out in space.

Ultimately, had the Mavs shot better from the free throw line and didn't admittedly relax at times, they may not have needed to take such a tough shot to determine the game's outcome. Dallas shot 21-34 from the free throw line against the Suns and allowed 62 second-half points. 

Game-Winning Shot Attempt vs. New Orleans Pelicans

Against the shorthanded Pelicans, the Mavs rallied back from a late disadvantaged position using consecutive drives for made finishes from Doncic instead of settling for 3-point attempts. Dallas's gamble was that fouling to send New Orleans to the free-throw line would result in at least one miss — proving successful. 

“We could have called timeout, but Luka has the ball, and I trust the next thing he’s going to do,” Kidd said. “For him to take the layup is smart because now it becomes a free-throw game, and we get the ball to tie or to win.

“And that’s what happened. I think everyone thought he was going to pull up for a 3, but I thought he took the right play to get the two points.”

With only 2.9 seconds remaining and a two-point deficit, the Mavs are inbounding the ball on their side of the floor. The Pelicans opted to switch everything — resulting in Devonte' Graham guarding Doncic on the catch. Doncic has 2.7 seconds left on the catch and is deep off the 3-point line. He attempts to get to his favorite spot on the left side of the floor but was unable to convert on the step-back 3-pointer. 

“We knew the red (double-team) was coming and we just didn’t execute,” Kidd said. “Luka had to take a tough shot. A lot of times you look for him to bail you out. We just didn’t execute. We have to do better.”

Oftentimes, the perception of a clutch situation is determined by the outcome. Doncic has made big shots with a similar approach in the past. However, there is still always room for improvement to simplify the circumstances. Not starting the game trailing 21-7 would be a start. 

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