PORTLAND, Ore. _ The bottom line is that this will go down as a night that put a pitchfork in a ruinous road trip and also pumped up the volume on Luka-mania.
Big time.
The Mavericks' rookie, with just six-tenths of a second to work with, caught and shot a 3-pointer from the corner at the regulation, forcing an overtime that looked impossible seconds earlier.
Never mind that the Mavericks were in great position to beat Portland Sunday night, just as they had two of the other three opponents on this journey in their cross hairs, and yet, fell again.
They ended up 0-4 on the trip as Portland's Damian Lillard took charge in the final minute and the overtime as the Blazers took a 121-118 victory.
The Mavericks had trailed by as many as 14 points, took a 102-100 lead but, after they still were up 104-103, Lillard scored twice to give the Blazers a three-point lead with under 40 seconds left.
The Mavericks couldn't coax in a bucket when they needed it as Wesley Matthews, who had made two 3-pointers to get them their lead, missed an ill-advised triple.
But Doncic was there to save them. His prayer from the corner was a thing of beauty.
Unfortunately, it doesn't mask the problems that have beset the Mavericks. In the overtime, Lillard was in command and the Mavericks missed three consecutive 3-pointers when they were down, 118-115. After the last, Lillard was fouled and his free throws with 15.6 left sealed it.
The Mavericks have regressed to the point that even things they have been doing well most of the season have gone south on them almost as fast as their record on this ruinous road trip.
Remember when they used to be a good rebounding team?
And remember when they used to play defense a little?
Long gone, both of them.
The Blazers became the fifth consecutive team to score at least 120 points against the Mavericks, although they needed the OT to do it. And the Mavericks were out-rebounded for the third time on the 0-4 road trip that sent them reeling into the bottom third of the Western Conference.
By the way, their 2-14 road record is the worst in the NBA.
"We're not winning games, but we're doing some better things all the time," coach Rick Carlisle had said before the game. "We talked about it (at the team meeting earlier Sunday), and we did some things to try to create an even more positive vibe.
"We got good guys that are playing hard. It's coming down to very narrow margins between winning and losing. Our guys are staying positive, our coaching staff is staying positive. We believe in these guys, we trust them. We're getting better ball movement in the last three games than we've had virtually all year. We just got to pick up our rebounding. That's a big thing."
They didn't do that against the Blazers and their defense was lax for too long before it got serious in the second half.
The last time the Mavericks were in this bad of a spot, they were 3-8, it was early November and people already were talking about tanking the season.
They responded by winning 12 of 15 games and climbing solidly into playoff contention.
And, here they are, back in 12th place in the Western Conference on Christmas Eve.
Maybe they will respond again to being on the outs. But just like the first time, it won't be easy.
