The Dallas Mavericks lost in a huge way on Wednesday night.
Following two major victories at home over the weekend against the Phoenix Suns, the Mavericks were dragged back down to Earth in a heartbreaking 110-80 loss.
The loss was something of a surprise to those who only watched the first two quarters of the game.
That’s because the Mavericks looked to be doing okay and were keeping it competitive – they even had a lead for quite a while.
But that all changed after halftime.
The Suns came to life in the second half and started to outscore the Mavs in a tremendous fashion.
There was no going back after that.
Following the huge defeat, Mavs superstar Luka Doncic had a few words about the situation.
Luka Doncic on the third quarter: “I think we relaxed. That wasn’t us. That wasn’t ourselves. We’ve got to be way better than that.”
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) May 11, 2022
“I think we relaxed,” Doncic said.
He continued: “That wasn’t us. That wasn’t ourselves. We’ve got to be way better than that.”
Doncic isn’t wrong: the team looked like a shell of itself.
Do they have time to turn it around?
Dallas Drops The Ball
Phoenix outscored Dallas 33-14 in the third quarter when the Mavericks went just 6-of-16 from the field while giving up 12 turnovers.
Ouch.
Dallas looked and played in a sloppy manner that definitely doesn’t feel like them.
They were taking horrible shots and weren’t communicating well and were constantly trying to catch up with Phoenix.
The good news for Dallas is that the problems with them in the third quarter were very evident – it’s obvious where things went horribly wrong.
That means they have a chance to correct them and right the wrongs in Game 6.
They have to because they literally cannot face another loss.
The series now sits at 3-2 in Phoenix’s favor.
NEXT: Are The Mavericks Proving They're More Than A One-Man Team?