Luka Dončić is the unquestioned leader of the Dallas Mavericks, even with the presence of Kyrie Irving on the team. But, so far in their playoff series with the Los Angeles Clippers it’s been Kyrie Irving carrying the load.
Luka Dončić has struggled throughout the series, and those struggles continued on Sunday. They lost a home game to a Clippers team without Kawhi Leonard that evened up the series at 2-2.
Luka was just 10-24 from the field, and 1-9 from three-point range for 24 points. That’s been the story of his series.
Through four games, the league’s scoring champion at 33.9 ppg on 49% shooting is just 39-100 from the field. Frankly, if he was shooting better, the Dallas Mavericks would have swept this series in four games.
Instead, it’s fallen on Kyrie Irving to carry the load. He’s done an admirable job, averaging 28.7 ppg on 40-78 shooting from the field.
For the Mavericks to make a deep run, Luka Dončić is going to have to turn back into the guy most consider to be the best guard in the NBA.
He knows that, and the fact that Kyrie Irving has to carry so much of the load is starting to weigh on him.
Luka on Kyrie: “I feel like I’m letting him down.”
— Law Murray 🐦🔥 (@LawMurrayTheNU) April 29, 2024
Luka will look to rebound on Tuesday back in Los Angeles in a pivotal game 5.