[Dallas41]

I think it's time Luka starts to take defense serious

MMB said what no one else will say about Luka and the team follows his lead on that side of the floor

The Mavericks defense is absolutely cooked
On Saturday the Kings lit the Mavericks up to the tune of 74 points in the paint. While the Mavericks defense is short staffed with the departure of Dorian Finney-Smith and Maxi Kleber still on the mend, you?d think the team would have some sort of pride and at least put forth a better effort?

Nope. Minnesota scored 64 points in the paint on Monday, and would have likely exceeded the Kings total if they too were granted an additional five minutes of basketball.

The Mavericks defense is putrid right now. You can?t even argue ?well, it?s just one of those nights? because the Wolves only made 9-of-29 from three. Minnesota went an astonishing 23-of-26 at the rim, and 9-of-17 in the paint but outside the restricted area. That?s 32 of the Wolves 48 made field goals coming in the paint.

Luka Doncic was especially bad, allowing guys like Taurean Prince and Kyle Anderson to beat him to the rim. For Luka?s sake, he wasn?t alone, as just about every Mavericks player had bad beats. To make matters worse, the trio of Dwight Powell, JaVale McGee, and Christian Wood did zero to help on the backline, getting pushed out of the way and failing to do much contesting. Blocks don?t tell the whole story of rim protection, but the Mavericks only had one and it was from Irving.

There will likely be some griping about how Wood could only play 23 minutes despite scoring 24 points, but he just about gave it back on the other end almost every trip down the floor. The only quarter the Mavericks held the Wolves under 30 points was the fourth, when Wood didn?t play and the Mavericks used a small-ball lineup for the entire quarter.