Mavs Step Back: Little Help for Luka Doncic in Loss vs. Nuggets; Lookahead to Red-Hot Clippers

The Dallas Mavericks got stomped by the Denver Nuggets on Monday night despite Luka Doncic putting up a 38/11/8 stat line on great efficiency, but now, all the attention shifts to the hottest team in basketball right now – the Los Angeles Clippers.

Dalton Trigg | Dec 19, 2023

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Heading into Monday night's matchup with the defending-champion Denver Nuggets, it was assumed by many that the shorthanded Dallas Mavericks would be in for a long night in the Mile High City, and that assumption was spot on.

Down Kyrie Irving, Dereck Lively II and Josh Green, Luka Doncic put his best foot forward, tallying 38 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists while shooting 13-24 overall and 6-12 from deep. Unfortunately for Dallas, Doncic didn't much help in Denver, especially from the 3-point line, as Tim Hardaway Jr. and Derrick Jones Jr. combined to shoot 2-14 from beyond the arc.

USATSI_22135889 — Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

“It’s tough,” Doncic said. “We have five, six players out that play a lot of minutes for us, so it’s tough. But we have to have a better mentality. It’s got to be next man up. And we’ve got to be way better with our energy during the game.”

On today's episode of the Mavs Step Back Podcast, we recap the Mavs' 130-104 blowout loss to the Nuggets, including why Doncic's plus/minus of -29 didn't match the eye test of his great individual performance, the continued struggles of Grant Williams, and Jones shooting just 15.4 percent from deep over his last five games.

Luka Doncic's Shorthanded Mavs Outmatched in Road Loss vs. Nuggets

Next up, the Mavs will take on Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, Paul George and the Los Angeles Clippers, who have won eight games in a row. Despite having an injury-plagued roster, should we expect the Mavs to play the role of "streak busters" in Wednesday's game? All that and more is discussed on today's show.

You can watch or listen to this episode below. Also, be sure to SUBSCRIBE on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere else you get your podcasts! Because of you, we have exceeded our 2023 goal of reaching 15,000 subscribers on YouTube, and we can’t thank you enough!

Published Dec 19, 2023

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.