Luka Doncic's Mavs Squander 25-Point Lead in Loss Against Bucks

The Mavs were up by 25 points early against the Bucks but lost by double figures despite a significant performance from Luka Doncic.

DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks (26-23) attempted to overcome injuries to various critical players during Saturday's matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks (33-16). Despite receiving 40 points, 11 assists, and nine rebounds from Luka Doncic, the Mavs ultimately lost 129-117 despite leading by as many as 25 points in the first half. 

Kyrie Irving (right thumb sprain), Dante Exum (right knee bursitis), and Dereck Lively II (nasal fracture) were all sidelined for this game for the Mavs. Brook Lopez was ruled out shortly before tipoff due to personal reasons. 

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Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with 48 points, 10 assists, six rebounds, and five steals in 40 minutes, shooting 20-28 from the floor. Damian Lillard racked up 30 points, eight assists, and three rebounds on a night the Mavs did not have their secondary superstar in Irving available. 

"I thought Dame and Giannis were aggressive and moved the ball at the same time tonight, and when they play like that, everybody gets involved," Bucks coach Doc Rivers said.

Aside from Doncic's standout performance, the Mavs received a season-high 21 points from Kleber while shooting 8-11 from the floor and 4-7 from the perimeter. Green totaled 20 points, nine rebounds, and three assists. Dallas's other double-figure scorer was Tim Hardaway Jr., who totaled 18 points. 

The Mavs went from leading by 25 points to begin outscored 105-68 for the remainder of the game after the 10:04 mark of the second quarter. It was about as hot of a start shooting the basketball as the Mavs could have strived to accomplish, shooting 8-10 from the floor and 7-8 from beyond the arc, resulting in an early 25-16 lead. However, Dallas shot just 7-25 (28.0 percent) from the perimeter for the rest of the game.

“Obviously, we shoot a lot of threes," Doncic said. "I think sometimes we need to attack more.”

Dallas continued to build on its early momentum, pushing its lead to double figures (29-18) after Jaden Hardy hit a pull-up in short-range midway through the period. Doncic went down with an injury and went to the locker room. He returned later in the first quarter, leading the Mavs' surge to take a 44-20 lead at the end of the opening period. He racked up 14 points, four rebounds, and four assists. 

“It’s the same ankle. I heard it pop," Doncic said about his ankle. "It’s pretty strong now. If it was last year, it would’ve been worse. But this year, I work on it every day, so it’s stronger.”

The Bucks closed the first half with a major rallying effort, but their first attempt was stifled. After reducing Dallas' advantage to 49-32 with 8:28 left before halftime, the Mavs had another hot shooting stretch to regain a 56-32 lead. 

Milwaukee closed the half on a 15-0 run and had outscored the Mavs 36-16 over the final 10 minutes of the second quarter, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Lillard. Dallas was up just 65-60 at the break. 

"They ended the half on a positive with Dame making that 3 at the buzzer," Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. "Just understand we didn't take care of the ball. And when you talk about the 3s, well, we've got to take care of the ball, especially against a team like this. If you're going to turn the ball over, it'll put you in harm's way."

The 15-0 stretch included Doncic being called for both a clear path foul and a technical foul in the same sequence, resulting in a five-point swing. Kidd acknowledged there's a need for better composure. 

"I think we had some turnovers there, and then we had the take foul, the T (technical foul)," Kidd said. "Our composure — we have to be better."

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Coming out of halftime, the Bucks emphasized trying to force the ball out of Doncic's hands more frequently by blitzing him in pick-and-roll. Milwaukee focused on swarming around in the half-court, making multiple rotations to pressure on the perimeter, and making other players make decisions with the ball. 

“I think I looked up at one point, and it was 45-20. At that point, all bets are off. You have to do what you have to do to get back into the game, and you’re looking at halftime like, ‘Man, we can turn this into a single-digit game. We just need some momentum,'" Lillard said. "Then we reground and try to dominate the second half. I thought it was a good decision to throw it out there and slow them down a little bit. Put the ball in some other guys’ hands instead of Luka and make them make decisions and make them beat you, and we got back into it like that.”

The defensive scheme the Bucks utilized was installed during their first practice under Rivers on Friday in Dallas, the day before this game. Instead of relying on switching heavily in the second half, they doubled Doncic, sending defenders from different spots, making him hold the ball and think about how to counter. 

“I loved the switching, but I loved the trapping,” Rivers said. “We put that in yesterday. We literally worked on that defense yesterday — not just for this game, (but) as part of our defense. “It’s called something, and they were all yelling it after the game because they enjoyed it. Guys come from different spots. It’s hard to predict where guys were coming from. I thought you could see Luka at times, just holding it and trying to figure out where they were coming from. And I thought our guys enjoyed that. Like, it was fun for them. It was like chess for them. And that was fun.”

Antetokounmpo commended the Bucks' coaching staff for breaking down their principles when trapping after Saturday's practice. He explained the importance of how the whole unit has to be on point with weak-side rotations, particularly against a team led by a passer like Doncic. With clear expectations, they executed well. 

"We talked about it yesterday, and we executed it today. I think also the guys did a great job," Antetokounmpo said. "We knew what we were trying to accomplish from that: get the ball from the guy who makes the most plays for the team, and then everybody has to be ready. 

"Everybody behind has to be ready to rotate and play. Speed them up a little bit," Antetokounmpo explained. "Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t work, but now nobody’s kind of sitting down and not participating on defense. Everybody has to be alert.”

Antetetokounmpo tied it up at 75 apiece after attacking the rim for an and-one with 7:02 remaining in the third quarter. A spray-out pass from Antetokounmpo to Khris Middleton for a corner 3-pointer put Milwaukee up by three. The Bucks ultimately built a 14-0 run to go up 83-75 with 4:29 left in the third quarter. 

A significant part of the Mavs' second-half shortcomings was turnovers, resulting in not only empty possessions for their offense but directly translating to scoring chances for the Bucks on the open floor — where Antetokounmpo is at his best. Milwaukee outscored Dallas 19-to-2 in points off turnovers after halftime, with 13 of the Mavs' 21 turnovers occurring during that span. The Bucks often deployed Antetokounmpo at the five with Lopez out, maximizing their speed. 

"That that was on me. I think I had, like, 10, 11 turnovers, which is unacceptable, for sure," Doncic said after turning over nine times. "That was on me. Which is being maybe not that careful with the pass, and they took some bad passes to it."

The Mavs responded with a 9-0 run to regain a brief 86-85 lead. Kleber made a series of pivotal plays to end the third quarter, including an and-one floater and a corner 3-pointer after Doncic made a spray-out pass. However, the Bucks closed the period with a 93-92 lead and didn't look back to close the game.

"I thought Maxi was coming back from injury. He's gotten better each game, and tonight's no different," Kidd said. "I thought being able to shoot the 3, being able to guard on the perimeter, and then also being able to guard Giannis [Antetokounmpo] in the post — I thought he did a really good job for us, and we're going to need that going forward."

With a transition finish from Antetokounmpo, the Bucks held a 101-97 advantage early in the final period, taking advantage of Hardaway, who was trying to attack in isolation and missing in the paint. Milwaukee continued its advantage with Lillard attacking out of high pick-and-roll repeatedly, getting to the rim on a reject, splitting two defenders trying to hedge, setting up a dish to Antetokounmpo for an and-one finish, then hitting a deep pull-up 3-pointer to extend the team's lead to 109-101 with under seven minutes left in regulation. Dallas had no answers with Doncic being brought into those actions with his man screening for Lillard. 

An inability to create an advantage defensively continued to hurt the Mavs' chances of making a rallying effort. Antetokounmpo split two defenders trying to trap him in the post for a wide-open finish with 3:56 still to play in deflating fashion, extending the team's lead to 118-109. With the Bucks deploying bigger personnel, the Mavs struggled to contain in the paint midway through the fourth quarter, whether it was Bobby Portis or Antetokounmpo finishing the play. 

Whether it was Malik Beasley hitting a side-step jumper against a fly-by, Antetokounmpo scoring on a smaller defender on a post-up created by flashing, or Lillard hitting a tough, fallaway 3-pointer in the corner on a pull-up, the Bucks made dynamic offensive plays to close the game out. Lillard's jumper from the corner proved to be the final dagger, pushing the Bucks' lead to double figures with about two minutes left to play. 

Next, the Mavs will begin a three-game East Coast road trip on Monday with a matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers.