The Dallas Mavericks’ season came to an end on Thursday evening in San Francisco. The team took on the Golden State Warriors in their second win-or-go-home game of the Western Conference Finals, but unlike their win in Game 4, the Mavericks came up a bit short. By the time the final buzzer sounded, the Warriors picked up a 120-110 win to punch their ticket to their first NBA Finals since 2019.
Luka Doncic put up his usual big numbers in Game 5, going for 28 points, nine rebounds, six assists, and a steal in 40 minutes of work. Despite that, he had a poor shooting night — 10-for-28 from the field, 3-for-13 from three — and saw his team get outscored by 12 points when he was on the floor. After the game, Doncic did not mince his words when asked about his performance.
“I don’t like losing, especially like this,” Doncic said, per ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. “I played terrible.”
Doncic was also critical of his defense, saying that while he is proud of the “huge step” he took forward on that end of the floor, “there’s so much room for improvement. I’ve got to be way better there. I think that’s one spot that can take us to the next level.” But despite this, he made it a point to praise Dallas for going as far as they did this year.
“If we talk about our season, I’m really proud of this team — everybody, every player, every staff member,” Doncic said. “Nobody had us here. But I promise we fought until the end. Congratulations to Warriors. They were obviously the better team. But I’m really proud of this team.”