DALLAS — The virtuosity of Luka Doncic never fails to inspire San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich, who can barely conceal the eloquence lurking beneath his playful bark. He loves how Luka makes him think of Vlade Divac and Toni Kukoc and Drazen Petrovic. He loves Luka’s story in particular, a kid from Slovenia who’s turned the world on its ear.
“How the hell did you get this good from a small country?”
But what San Antonio’s coach really loves is Luka’s passion. Loves his intensity. Loves his laughter.
“He’s just fun,” Pop said. “Besides being an unbelievable player.”
“Jason’s gonna work on his defense, though.”
Yes. Yes he is. Because, the way Jason Kidd sees it, defense is how the Mavericks won two of their first three games, and defense was how they climbed back into the game against the Spurs after yet another abysmal start, before Luka took over late with 25 points to give the Mavs a 104-99 win at American Airlines Center.
How bad did it get before the Mavs’ defense took over? The Spurs, 1-4 and lightyears removed from their heyday, ran out to a 25-5 lead that three Mavs timeouts and a host of personnel moves couldn’t stop. Watching the Mavs’ futility made me think of the curious request before Tuesday’s win over the Rockets, when the Mavs’ three-man “council” of Luka, Kristaps Porzingis and Tim Hardaway Jr. asked Kidd before the game to play the entire roster. I mean, who does that? As it turned out, they needed all 15 before finally pulling away from a rebuilding team for a 116-106 win.
Watching the first eight minutes of Thursday’s game, I was thinking 15 Mavs might not be enough if they were all on the floor at once.
Besides, they couldn’t have played a full roster if they’d wanted to. This probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise, but Porzingis missed Thursday’s game with lower back tightness. Kidd called it “more of a management” move to keep his injury from getting any worse and hopes, after another look at it Friday, he can play in Denver.
What we know for certain: Whoever had Game 4 in the KP injury lottery wins.
Porzingis’ troubles and offensive glitches have made for a little bit of a rough start to the third Kidd era. Dallas went into Thursday’s game with an offensive rating of 101.3, which is 25th in the league. Sure, it’s a small sample size, but we’re used to seeing the Mavs score. They were eighth in the league last year at 114.6.
Under Kidd, the Mavs have more or less flip-flopped: A 104.0 defensive rating that is 12th in the league, compared with 112.3 last year, bad enough for 21st.
How important is the difference in defense?
“You have to play a modicum of defense to be successful,” said Popovich, whose five NBA titles were built on the back of timely stops.
“If you want to win big, defense is a requirement.”
Kidd, one of the best defensive guards in the game’s history, knows this is so. But, scoring is still the name of the game, and the Mavs’ offensive troubles are, well, troubling.
Could it be possible that the new emphasis on defense and energy exerted is affecting the Mavs’ offense?
Are they thinking too much out there?
“We haven’t shot the ball well,” Kidd said before the game, “but I would say that if we didn’t play defense, we would’ve lost all the games. So, it’s actually kind of cool that we’re relying on defensive runs to keep us in games until we can start making shots.
“Those shots that we’re getting are going to fall for us at some point.”
Give Kidd this much: He’s clairvoyant.
The Mavs got back in Thursday’s game behind Jalen Brunson and his 19 points but mostly because of a defense that held the Spurs scoreless for 7 minutes, 46 seconds. Of course, it wasn’t all Mavs. The Spurs did their part, too. But, over those nearly eight minutes, the free pass to the basket basically ended. For instance, Maxi Kleber had four of his six blocks.
From the point that Kleber tied it at 27-27 with 7:28 left in the half, it was simply a matter of the Mavs’ talent asserting itself.
But, I have to tell you, for most of the game, the Mavs could have used the fan who banked in a 3-point shot from midcourt at halftime to win $100,000 worth of cryptocurrency, courtesy of Voyager, the Mavs’ new partner.
Otherwise, it’s always good to have Luka, who bounced back from a rough start in which he played little of the comeback to finish with 25 points, five assists and three rebounds.
Luka didn’t have any defensive moments like he did against Houston, when he blocked a dunk attempt at the rim and later told Kidd it should earn him Defensive Player of the Year. Or, at least defensive play of the year.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Luka. But you’re on the right track.
“I think he can play both ways,” Kidd said. “He’s starting to show that. He wants to win, so he’s going to do whatever it takes to win. It’s not just on the offensive end. He’s participating on the defensive end.”
Yes he is, Pop. So, are the rest of the Mavs. This could take some getting used to.
