NBA Finals: Luka Doncic takes blame for Game 2 loss, but Kyrie Irving is the one letting Dallas down

The Dallas Mavericks are down 0-2 in the NBA Finals after the Boston Celtics recorded a 105-98 victory in Game 2 on Sunday night, and Luka Doncic, of all people, is the one taking the blame for the Dallas defeat. 

“I think my turnovers and my missed free throws cost us the game,” Doncic said. “I’ve got to do way better in those two categories.”

Doncic is right about his eight turnovers and four missed free throws. To card numbers like that in a game of this magnitude, with the minuscule margin for error with which the Mavericks are working with against an increasingly vastly superior Celtics team, is asking for trouble. He actually kind of looks like he has a mild case of the yips at the free-throw line. One of his misses hardly drew front iron. 

He’s also exhausted. That’s a big part of this. The Celtics are coming at him in waves. He got picked from behind twice in semi-transition. Every time he takes a breath, someone is suffocating him. It doesn’t help that he’s playing through a chest contusion, either. That’s when the mistakes and missed free throws start to pile up. That’s also why it’s absolutely ridiculous for Doncic to be taking the blame for this loss. 

I get the gesture of the best player holding himself accountable, which is commendable, but Doncic taking the blame for a loss in which he posted 32 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists and four steals while his co-star Kyrie Irving was more or less shut down for the second straight game is ridiculous. Doncic had four 3s; the rest of the Mavericks combined went 2-of-17. 

Boston’s on-ball defense is incredible. Doncic is facing Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday and Derrick White and Jayson Tatum. They’re like four All-Pro defensive ends rotating in and out, splitting their energy. Meanwhile, Doncic is that dude in the center of the Oklahoma drill trying to swivel around to fight off all of them. He made 11-of-15 shots through the first three quarters and one of 6 in the fourth. He’s absolutely gassed. 

Irving simply has to do more. He’s facing his own kind of defensive…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-finals-luka-doncic-takes-blame-for-game-2-loss-but-kyrie-irving-is-the-one-letting-dallas-down/

Author : Brad Botkin

Publish date : 2024-06-10 04:44:41

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