Mavs Podcast: Eliminated Luka Doncic - 'My Only Goal Is A Championship'

On this episode of the Mavs Step Back Podcast, Dalton Trigg and Matt Galatzan recap the Dallas Mavericks' 111-97 Game 6 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, discuss Luka Doncic's brilliance and look ahead to what figures to be a very busy offseason in Dallas with potential trades, the NBA Draft and free agency.

Dalton Trigg | Aug 30, 2020

“My goal at the start of every season is to win a championship," said young superstar Luka Doncic after the Dallas Mavericks were eliminated in Sunday's first-round Game 6 by the Los Angeles Clippers, 111-97. "There is no other goal so that is going to be mine."

Despite putting up another dazzling performance in his first-ever elimination game, finishing with 38 points (15-of-28 from the field, 4-of-8 from deep), nine rebounds and nine assists, none of that mattered to Doncic in the end, because he fell short of his ultimate goal, which is hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy as the last team standing.

That said, though, the odds were severely stacked against this year's Mavs' roster, given all the injuries it had endured - the biggest being Doncic's co-star Kristaps Porzingis suffering a meniscus tear in Game 1, and he wasn't able to play past Game 3 of the series.

Although the ultimate goal wasn't reached, Doncic was still proud of his team, realizing that they gave all they could give, given the unfortunate circumstances.

“I am proud of our team and how we fought," said Doncic. "I think we fought till the end, but the Clippers have an amazing team, so it was hard. I think we gave everything and played especially hard in the playoffs. I am proud of our guys.”

The Mavs will now officially head into an offseason loaded with potential roster-improving possibilities, whether it be by trades, the NBA Draft (where Dallas holds the No. 18 and No. 31 picks) or free agency. Regardless of what the Mavs do to add to this roster over the offseason, the team will automatically be improved from the product we saw in the postseason with the return of Dwight Powell and Jalen Brunson next season.

On this episode of the Mavs Step Back Podcast, the guys recap Game 6, talk about Doncic's playoff brilliance, and name a few players the Mavs should target via trade around draft time. As always, thanks for listening!

Published Aug 30, 2020

DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.