Mavericks: Jason Kidd believes he needs more from those around Luka Doncic

Dallas, Texas — When the Dallas Mavericks lost the Charlotte Hornets, Luka Doncic came up big. He was the only one. Doncic scored 37 points. And in the third quarter, he aided with a flurry of buckets that put into focus how good he can be when his jump shot is falling. While Doncic gave […]

Ian Kayanja

Mar 20, 2022 9:19 PM EDT

Dallas, Texas — When the Dallas Mavericks lost the Charlotte Hornets, Luka Doncic came up big.

He was the only one.

Doncic scored 37 points. And in the third quarter, he aided with a flurry of buckets that put into focus how good he can be when his jump shot is falling.

While Doncic gave it his all, the rest of the team scored 71 on 26-69 (37.6 percent) shooting from the floor and 6-26 (23.1 percent) from 3-point range.

So, it was no surprise when the final score Saturday night read 129-108 in Charlotte's favor. It was also no surprise when Jason Kidd clamored for more help from those around Doncic because Dallas' superstar can't go at it alone.

"Luka was very good, but tonight we just couldn’t get anybody to join him,” Kidd said. “There’s going to be nights where he doesn’t score the ball or have 30-something points.

"In his book, it could be an off night, which is sometimes just a great night for average players. We hold him at a very high level, and again he came to play tonight. Unfortunately, no one else did."

Doncic's Lack of Help?

All season, Dorian Finney-Smith and Jalen Brunson have been Doncic's security blanket. They rarely played badly in the same game and at the same time.

Against Charlotte, that changed.

They combined to score 18 on 6-18 (33.3 percent) shooting, including 2-8 (25 percent) on 3-point shots.

What didn't help was the lack of Spencer Dinwiddie and Reggie Bullock. Dinwiddie was nursing an injury, while Bullock has been out due to personal reasons. Both players were sorely missed, as the Hornets made 20 3-pointers on 50 percent shooting.

As the wheels fell off for Dallas, Doncic couldn't keep up scoring on his own. Charlotte was bound to pull away. It also didn't help that Dallas was playing on the second night of a back-to-back, and clearly, the team suffered from heavy legs.

"Sometimes when you rely on scoring when things are good there can be some slippage on the defensive end,'' Kidd said. "We are trending down and we have to pay attention to that and get back to playing the way that we have in the past."

Dallas also has to pay attention to the help Doncic gets on a nightly basis. He knows to bring it. The question always becomes, who else will? And those answers aren't always easy to come by.