Luka Doncic Criticizes ‘Slippery’ NBA In-Season Tournament Court; Turnovers Doom Dallas Mavs in New Orleans

Luka Doncic had his worst performance of the season on Tuesday night against the New Orleans Pelicans, and he claims the In-Season Tournament court played a part in the Dallas Mavericks committing a season-high 20 turnovers.

NEW ORLEANS — Being 48 hours removed from a blowout win over the New Orleans Pelicans to start their four-game road trip, the Dallas Mavericks got a taste of their own medicine in the second matchup of the Southwest Division mini-series on Tuesday night at Smoothie King Center.

Coming into last night’s game, we wrote in our DallasBasketball.com game preview that the Mavs would have a great chance of collecting their ninth win of the season if they could avoid committing too many turnovers. Unfortunately for Dallas, it committed a season-high 20 turnovers and gave up 31 points off those turnovers en route to a demoralizing 131-110 loss.

The Dallas Mavericks played on the New Orleans Pelicans' In-Season Tournament court on Tuesday night / Dalton Trigg, DallasBasketball.com

“Yeah it was a bad night all the way around,” Mavs head coach Jason Kidd said. “Our defense, our energy and then the turnovers hurt us. It’s hard when you turn it over in transition, you give up that many fast break points. It’s hard to guard.

“Give New Orleans credit – they came out and they played hard. I thought we took their first punch there in the first. It was 30 to 26. They make a half-court shot. It is 33 to 26 and you know you’re in the game and you didn’t play well in the first but… it was just a downhill effect from there.”

Luka Doncic Struggles in Mavs' Blowout Loss vs. Pelicans

Although Luka Doncic knows he could've been more efficient – both with his scoring and with taking care of the ball – he also admitted that playing on the NBA In-Season Tournament courts could be contributing to some of the uncharacteristic play we've seen from the Mavs.

"I mean, outside of all of the courts, I think the court today was really bad," Doncic said. "It was really slippery, and in some places, the ball didn't really bounce. If we're going to have these courts, we need to make sure that it's a stable court."

Doncic finished with just 16 points, two rebounds and two assists while being a -26 in 26 minutes of action. Like on Sunday, Doncic again didn't play in the fourth quarter, but this time it was due to his team taking a blowout loss. Heading into Wednesday's second night of a back-to-back against the Washington Wizards, though, the Mavs are making sure to flush what happened in New Orleans and quickly move on to making it back into the win column.

Luka Doncic attempts a free throw in the Dallas Mavericks' loss to the New Orleans Pelicans / Dalton Trigg, DallasBasketball.com

“It happens over the course of the season, but you can’t let it be reoccurring. We’ve had two or three games – the three losses that we’ve had – that were uncharacteristic of us," Mavs forward Grant Williams said.

"[The Pelicans] played faster than us, they played with a little more edge. As we know, that team’s very athletic, they do a great job of getting out in transition, it’s hard to beat when they do that. Keep them at half-court and you might have a better chance, and we didn’t do that tonight.”

Stay tuned to DallasBasketball.com for extensive pregame and postgame coverage as the Mavs take on the Wizards tonight.

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