MY ACCOUNT
Jason Kidd repeated his plea for the rest of his Dallas Mavericks players to do more to help Luka Doncic after they fell 2-0 behind to the Phoenix Suns in the NBA playoffs.
Game 2 of their Western Conference semi-final was taken away from Dallas by the Suns in the second half on Wednesday, with the hosts scoring 71 points after half-time to eventually run out 129-109 victors at Footprint Center.
A sensational performance from Chris Paul was the catalyst for the number one seeds in the West, with 28 points as well as eight assists and six rebounds.
Paul was more than ably assisted by Devin Booker, who helped himself to 30 points on the night, but the game’s top scorer Doncic (35) received less support.
The Slovenian added seven assists and five rebounds, with the next highest Dallas scorer, Reggie Bullock, only managing 16, while first-round star Jalen Brunson could only add nine.
Doncic is averaging 33.5 points per game for his playoff career – the most of all time – but coach Kidd accepts he cannot beat a team as good as the Suns on his own.
“He had a great game, but no one else showed,” Kidd said. “We’ve got to get other guys shooting the ball better.
“We can’t win with just him out there scoring 30 a night – not at this time of the year. And we’re playing the best team in the league, so we’ve got to get other guys going.
“We need to do a better job of helping him. [The Suns are] bringing him up into everything. We knew that coming into the series. We knew that in the last series. We did a better job of protecting one another, not just Luka. We’ve got to get back to protecting one another for Game 3 back at home.”
Doncic did not absolve himself of blame, though, adding: “I’ve just got to play better defense. That’s it.”
Mavs coach Kidd was also full of praise for Paul and Booker, acknowledging the Suns’ gameplan worked to perfection.
“When you look at CP and Book, they took turns,” Kidd said. “One took the third quarter, the next one took the fourth quarter, and we had no answers.
“They got the shots that they wanted. CP got to his spots and he made layups and made jump shots. Book made threes. They’re really good. They understand the situation. They’ve seen it all. We’ve just got to be better.”
