The Dallas Mavericks completed January Friday night with a loss to the Houston Rockets. The Mavs went 8-7 in the month and head into February with a 29-19 record and sit in the 6th seed in the West. After losing their final two games on the month, they will look to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season Saturday night agains the Atlanta Hawks. 

With the trade deadline coming up this upcoming week (February 6th), the Mavs are three games behind the Utah Jazz for the 4 seed and a potential home-court series in the playoffs, although that may not be a good thing with their home record (13-12). 

It was announced Friday that Luka Doncic will be out for at least the next six games due to a right ankle sprain. Luka missed four games in December after rolling the same ankle against the Miami Heat on December 14th.

Coach Rick Carlisle said during his weekly radio hit that he believes Luka is going to be OK by time the All-Star weekend rolls around. With the Mavs only having 8 games left before the break, it wouldn’t surprise me if we didn’t see Luka again until after the break, although I am sure it is important for him to be back before then so that he can participate in those activities.

Clutch time is a problem 

Dallas has proved all season long that they can hang with some of the elite teams in the NBA. In the games they have lost, the majority of them have been lost in the “clutch.” The clutch is when the game is within 5 points in the last five minutes of the game. The Mavs are 10-14 in those games and their record setting offensive rating drops from 1st to 28th. 

In the month of January, they went 2-4 in such games and their offensive rating ranked 20th at 101.8. 

Via Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News, Seth Curry had some interesting comments last week saying that he believes the Mavs are too predictable in those moments. 

“There’s only so much you can run down the stretch of games, first and foremost,” Curry said. “Obviously, you want the ball in Luka’s hands to make plays, but I think we should probably find different ways to get him the ball.”

Along with being too predictable, I also feel that the Mavs lack guys that are comfortable with the ball in their hands in those late game moments other than Luka. Shot selection is also often a problem. 

Free Throw shooting

The free throw shooting for Dallas has been an issue that has become a bigger issue as we’ve gotten further along in the season. It reared its ugly head a few more times in January. Luka has struggled as much as anyone at the free throw line shooting 66.7% in January. 

In January, as a team in those clutch games, the Mavs were 29th in the NBA in free throw percentage shooting only 68.8 percent. Overall, the Mavs shot 71.1%, which also ranked 29th. 

You can look at each game lost except the last two losses against Phoenix and the Rockets and point to crucial free throws that were missed. The most recent example was Dorian Finney-Smith in Utah. 

Luka Donic’s flaw 

In the month of January, Luka Doncic averaged roughly 29 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists, which are pretty much his season long averages as well. It’s tough to find anything on the court he doesn’t do well. 

However, I do have one area of his game that I think he is relying upon too much and that is his step-back three. Luka can get to the basket anytime he wants and when he drives it opens up so much for the Mavs offense. 

In January, Doncic shot 4-15(29%) in the 4th quarter on step back threes and 21-66(31.8%) overall for the month.