After the Dallas Mavericks’ 132-125 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, the team’s best players, identified the defense as an area that needed attention. 

“I just need to defend the ball better. That is all “Doncic stated. “Offense, in my opinion, is not a problem. We simply need to play better defense, in my opinion.

The Mavs lost 43 points in the fourth quarter alone, even though they had led by as many as 12 points at one point. As a result, the squad faltered in the closing minutes. In the last frame, Damian Lillard scored 10 of his 27 points, while Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 15 of his 40 points. When Dallas required better defensive play in the last minute, Milwaukee shot 14-21 (66.7%) from the field, 6-13 (46.2%) on threes, and 9-10 (90.0%) on free throws while only committing two turnovers.  

Doncic remarked, “Giannis was just destroying us in the paint.” “He had a lot of paint points; I’m not sure how many he had. He was just frequently getting into the paint, even though it’s obviously very difficult to stop him.”

Irving and his teammates admitted that at times, especially in the fourth quarter, they were out of position defensively, which led to numerous timely open corner threes, paint shots for Antetokounmpo, and trips to the free throw line. 

“We did a good job coming out of halftime with that energy and verve we normally have,” Irving said. “We were playing good defensive principals, and they were making timely shots. A few times in that fourth quarter, I was out of position, or other guys were out of position defensively where we’re giving up some corner 3s to some of their shooters and Giannis getting downhill, shooting a few free throws tonight.”

Irving highlighted a particular example where he wanted to take personal accountability: a made 3 from Pat Connaughton in clutch time, who had two pivotal makes down the stretch for the Bucks. 

“Connaughton hit a big three in the corner on me in the fourth quarter, and I don’t want to put the blame all on me, but I have to take accountability for just my mistakes that I made on the defensive end,” Irving said. “To put us in a better position all-around team game defensively. You just have to be better.”

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In terms of what just the fourth loss of the regular season means in the bigger picture for the Mavs, Irving characterized it as an example of the team needing to continue to find the consistency the collective seeks. 

“What I learned from tonight and even in Denver is just that we still have to mature as a team and continue to find that consistency that we talk about daily,” Irving said. “And that’s just doing the little things and settling into our roles, and night-to-night, it could be different people finishing the game in different lineups. We just got to be prepared. 

“Teams are going to throw their best at us. We saw that tonight against. Milwaukee, you see that against other teams,” Irving explained. “But when you play against the top teams in the league, you can really use that measuring stick to propel yourself moving forward and gather all the mistakes and attack them and then move forward.”

The Mavs have yet another quick turnaround before returning to action as they will compete against the Sacramento Kings on the second night of a back-to-back on Sunday at American Airlines Center. 

“There were some difference makers in that second half where we can clean up,” Irving said. “Now, we just have to get ready for Sacramento — definitely lessons learned here.”