The Mavericks lost their season opener to the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night 106-102 and it was certainly a tough pill to swallow with the game right there for Dallas to take with just a couple minutes remaining. After Luka Doncic sank two free throws to tie the game up at 100 with 1:56 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Suns would outscore the Mavericks 6-2 despite Dallas having multiple attempts to tie or take the lead twice over the next minute.

One of their missed shots in the final two minutes came from Maxi Kleber taking a straightaway three pointer with ten seconds left on the shot clock when the Mavs trailed 101-100.

https://twitter.com/RyanMainville/status/1342127735817310208

Looking at the video of it, it’s not a horrible shot. Kleber was 2-6 from deep before this shot and he had the room to shoot it with the confidence he did. With ten seconds left on the shot clock in one of the most pivotal possessions of the game? Not sure that’s the shot Dallas wanted, but there simply wasn’t much going on throughout the development of the possession.

The next missed shot that did the Mavericks in was the love-it-or-hate-it Luka Doncic stepback three. Dallas was trailing 103-100 with just over a minute left and again this shot attempt came with several seconds remaining on the shot clock. Clank. Devin Booker makes a mid-range jumper over Jalen Brunson 20 seconds later to essentially ice the game at 105-100 with 40 seconds left.

This obviously isn’t anything new. The Mavs struggled mightily down the stretches of close games last season. Last season’s historically efficient offense that scored with such ease through the first 42 minutes of a game suddenly became unrecognizable down the stretch with tough, contested shots late in the shot clock becoming the norm with the game on the line. Wednesday night was different because the Mavericks offense was never completely soaring on a night where they shot just 24% from beyond the arc and they actually played pretty well from the five minute mark of the fourth quarter until the final minute when getting shots in the paint and getting to the free throw line turned into deep heaves with time to look for better options.

This ultimately falls at the feet of Luka Doncic. While he might not take every shot down the stretch of games, he does take most of them and he is the catalyst of the offense from the opening tip-off until the final buzzer. He made encouraging comments after the game last night acknowledging that his shot selection has to be better.

“I gotta stop taking these very bad shots. It wasn’t just the last one,” Doncic said in his typical hushed tone that accompanies him to media sessions after tough losses. “It’s not good for me, it’s not good for the team, and I gotta change it. I think we were attacking the paint really good in the second half and we should’ve kept doing that.”

All of Dallas’ 12 points in the final five minutes of the game Wednesday came in the paint or at the free throw line. They were keeping themselves in the game by forcing the issue against DeAndre Ayton and the Phoenix interior defense, but then deserted that for two consecutive possessions that ultimately sealed the game.

Coach Rick Carlisle would never publicly question his own players to the media, so he was there to support his 21-year-old star after the game.

“I think he did a good job at staying aggressive downhill when the outside shots weren’t falling,” Carlisle said of Doncic on a night where Luka shot 0-6 from deep. “He’s still getting his game legs under him, and that will get there, but he understands the game as well as any 21-year-old I’ve ever been around. He’ll make the adjustments that are necessary.” He then made an important point about the entire team in general, but certainly applies the most to Doncic when it comes to shot selection late:

“Winning and losing in the Western Conference this year is going to come down to concentration on details, and we just have to do a few things better.”

Adjustments are going to need to be made, for sure. The Mavericks face a tough opening week of the season as they get no time to ease back after a loss as they take on the Lakers and Clippers next. Hopefully they’re able to figure some things out, because an 0-3 start in the West might not be as harmless as some might think.