Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic excitedly expressed his dismay that coach Rick Carlisle did not take advantage of the team’s timeout during a critical possession in the final minute of a 112-109 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night.
Ball possession, which occurred with the Mavs losing by two points, ended with Kristaps Porzingis losing a disputed 3-point basket with 10.4 seconds remaining. After the Mavs were missed, seconds later, Doncic gestured angrily toward the Dallas bench, repeatedly forming a T with his hands to indicate that a timeout should have been requested.
In previous possession, Doncic created an open look in 3 for Trey Burke, moving from a double team. Burke missed, but pivot Willie Cauley-Stein grabbed the offensive rebound with 17.7 seconds left. Doncic did not touch the ball for the rest of the possession, as Cauley-Stein handed it to Burke, who headed the baseline under the basket and passed it to Porzingis on the right wing.
“It’s the coach’s decision, but if we had kicked it, everything would have been fine,” said Doncic, who had 29 points, 9 rebounds and 13 assists in defeat, accounting for 61 of Mavs’ 81 points when he was on the ground. “… But I don’t know. It’s the coach’s decision to ask for a break or not, so I think it’s a good thing.”
Doncic said he had not yet discussed the situation with Carlisle and declined to say whether he intended to have this conversation with his coach.
“If we talk, we will talk,” said Doncic. “It won’t be in the media. It’s between us.”
Carlisle said he “would not go into this publicly” when asked about discussing the situation with Doncic. Carlisle expressed no regret at his decision not to request a timeout for possession, noting how difficult it is to score against the Bucks defense if Milwaukee has the opportunity to make the set.
“Look, we have two good pictures and we keep a time limit,” said Carlisle. “As a coach, that’s all you can expect in that situation.”
The failed 3, who failed to pick up the iron and bounced off the table on the other side of the ring, scored a poor kicking performance by Porzingis in his second game of the season after recovering from out of season surgery on his right knee. He finished with 15 points out of 6 out of 19 shots (2 out of 7 in the 3 point range) in 29 minutes.
“There are things that I could have done much better and that could have changed a lot in this game,” said Porzingis, who felt he had fired his last shot. “I want to take a lot of responsibility for this one.”
Porzingis said he needs to be “calmer” out there, recognizing that he has sometimes been very aggressive while trying to find his pace.
“There has to be a balance,” said Porzingis. “You want to be aggressive, but you want to be aggressive in situations and positions that you are comfortable with. You don’t always want to look for it.”
Carlisle expressed confidence that Porzingis would find that balance when he regained his balance after losing the first nine games of the season.
“Put yourself in his shoes,” said Carlisle. “The guy desperately wants to help the team. If he wasn’t aggressive, I would be much more concerned.”