Doncic & Porzingis Not Enough as Mavs Fall to Pacers, 106-93

After getting a much-needed win in Memphis on Wednesday night, the Dallas Mavericks fell flat yet again on Friday in a 106-93 loss to the Indiana Pacers, despite decent scoring nights from Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis.

The Mavericks’ visit to Indiana didn’t go exactly like how everyone thought it would, mainly because former Dallas head coach Rick Carlisle wasn’t able to be on the sidelines for the Pacers due to testing positive for COVID.

As for the game itself, though, we can't say we're surprised with that outcome, as the Mavs lost to the Pacers, 106-93, in deflating fashion just two nights after getting a solid win in Memphis. 

The loss dropped the Mavs back under .500 at 12-13.

Dallas pretty much got what it expected from its top two players, at least offensively, as Doncic finished with 27 points, nine assists and nine rebounds, and Porzingis tallied 22 points on 9-of-17 shooting from the field.

Still, Doncic was disappointed in the overall team-wide shooting slump.

“Right now, we’re just not making shots,” he said. “We have a lot of open shots, we’re just not making them. I don’t know why. We just got to maybe attack more, shoot less 3's. I think we just got to think paint first, then shoot 3's. I took a lot of bad 3's. We should think rim first.”

Myles Turner, who we believe should definitely be a Mavs trade target, finished this one with 17 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 6-of-11 from the field and 3-of-7 from deep. The other premier Pacers big man, Domantas Sabonis, put up 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field, grabbed 10 rebounds of his own, dished out seven assists, and was a team-high plus-23 in the box score plus-minus.

The problem for the Mavs in this particular game was a problem we've seen far too often with this team, and that was the play of the their supporting cast. Yes, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jalen Brunson scored 15 and 14 points off the bench, respectively, but the rest of the Dallas roster not named Doncic, Porzingis, Hardaway Jr. or Brunson? Just 15 points total. 

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is just not going to cut it for an NBA team that views itself as a playoff contender this season. It's not a bold prediction to say that the Mavs will continue to lose a handful of games if three of their five starters combine for just six points on six total field-goal attempts. No matter where you want to place the blame - players, coaching, management, or all the above - something will have to give if Dallas is going to avoid having extremely disappointing results in Doncic's fourth season.

With December 15 coming up next week, which is the day when players who were signed in the offseason can be traded again, maybe owner Mark Cuban and general manager Nico Harrison have seen enough after enduring 13 losses in the first 25 games of this season. 

Although this part of the season feels like a real drag at times, meaningful change could be on its way... at least we hope, for Doncic's sake.

The Mavs will now fly to Oklahoma City to take on the Thunder on Sunday in the third and final game of this current road trip. Be sure to sign up for Mavs Step Back Premium if you’d like to receive a private link to our live watch party on Sunday night. ... and keep hoping that KP is right when he said, “We’ll get out of this. That is 100-percent fact. I think it’s only a matter of time until we find that offensive rhythm and start knocking those shots down and getting some more assists for Luka.”