Luka Doncic Takes Blame for Mavs Heartbreaking Loss to Cavs: 'My Fault ... Should Have Pressed Up More'
The Dallas Mavericks suffered heartbreak on Tuesday night, as they watched Max Strus give the Cleveland Cavaliers a 121-119 win with a 59-foot heave from beyond half court – the second-longest game-winning shot in the NBA's 3-point era.
In front of a large Slovenian crowd, Luka Doncic was magnificent, scoring 45 points on 17-29 shooting to go with nine rebounds, 14 assists and just one turnover. There is no other player in league history with that stat line in the Basketball Reference database.
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Despite Doncic's massive performance, it was overshadowed by Strus' heroics for Cleveland, and the four-time All-NBA First Teamer took blame for how that final shot played out.
"Incredible shot. I have nothing much to say. Max hurt us in the 4th quarter a lot, but that was an incredible shot, man," Doncic said. "That was my fault. I should have pressed up more. I was the first one, so that was my bad."
Although it's honorable for Doncic to take responsibility for the Mavs losing, it's also not quite fair. His 45 points and 14 assists were the main reasons Dallas didn't get blown out in last night's contest, and orchestrated the play to give P.J. Washington the go-ahead layup with 2.6 seconds remaining before disaster struck.
Sometimes it's better to be a little more lucky than good, and Strus got the best of the Mavs in that department on Tuesday. Dallas won't have long to dwell on this loss, as they play the Toronto Raptors on a second night of a back-to-back on Wednesday.
