Luka Doncic played less than the first half of the game.
Photo: Tim Heitman/Getty Images
The Dallas Mavericks of the Slovenian Luka Doncic, with a quintet full of substitutes, lost this Friday at home against the Chicago Bulls (112-115) and They were officially eliminated from the NBA postseason. by placing eleventh and with no chance of reaching the Oklahoma City Thunder in tenth place in the West.
The few hopes of the Mavericks to reach the tenth position, which gives access to the ‘play-in’, ended against the Bulls, in a game in which the Texans only fielded Doncic in the first period and the opening seconds of the second, and in which they did not have Kyrie Irving, Tim Hardaway or Christian Wood, among others.
For the first time since 2019, the Mavericks did not qualify for the postseason and signed a sports flop after revolutionizing his team in February to incorporate Kyrie Irving.
Jason Kidd’s men had to win their last two games and wait for the Oklahoma City Thunder to lose at home on Sunday against the Memphis Grizzlies, already secure in second place.
That’s why The franchise’s decision to face the head-to-head clash against the Bulls with a completely unprecedented quintet surprised, without Irving, Hardaway, Wood, Josh Green or Maxi Kleber and with Doncic on the track only in the first period.
The Slovenian dragged in this final stretch of the regular season a thigh injury that limited his movementsbut he had forced and continued to compete in an attempt to avoid a debacle that took place this Friday.
He played the twelve minutes of the first quarter and the first possession of the second, before returning to the bench permanently. He contributed thirteen points, five rebounds and three assists and continued the rest of the game already showered and wearing a tracksuit. He saw how his teammates wasted fifteen points of advantage and fell against some Bulls also no stars.
Because if the Texans left out their leaders, lhe Bulls took to the track without DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine or Patrick Beverly, already secure in the tenth position in the East and their access to the ‘play-in’.
And it was a game marked by paradoxes, on and off the track. Despite the demand to avoid a resounding sports failure, the Mavericks played the game without great concentration or faith.
Their substitutes had brilliant numbers from the arc, especially in a first half in which they touched fifteen points of advantage and connected twelve triples.
But they only connected six of 27 in the second half and, now without Doncic, they were traced by some Bulls in which Nikola Vucevic contributed a double double of twenty points and ten rebounds, and in which Patrick Williams excelled with 23. Coby White also stepped up and sealed 24 points.
If the Mavericks made less than lucid decisions, like when Davis Bertans launched a triple, missing it, with all the Bulls already in the center of the track, the visitors signed a 14-0 run that allowed them to come back and take advantage.
The Texans melted and their last reaction, with two triples for 108-110, was frustrated by a three-point shot from Williams that again put land in the middle.
The duel ended 112-115 and for the Mavericks a real debacle took place. A franchise that was among the favorites to reach the Finals in the West was left out of the postseason.
Also read:
– Former NBA player Lamar Odom went from overdose patient to owner of several rehab clinics
– NBA: Miami Heat reaches an agreement with the company Kaseya to change the name of its stadium
– Hispanic Justin Minaya signed with the Portland Trail Blazers and will be the fourth Dominican present in the NBA
