Nothing is going right in Dallas anymore. Fallen again against the Hornets on Sunday evening, the Mavericks continue to see the Playoffs move away and as if that were not enough, Luka Doncic should logically be suspended for the next game.
That’s it, Luka has officially crossed the line.
A great specialist in the discipline “I grumble with the referees”, Doncic suffered his 16th technical foul of the season yesterday in the third quarter in Charlotte, 16th technical synonymous with automatic suspension for the next game. On the action in question, Luka is not very demonstrative but who knows what he could have said to the referee. And then hey, his reputation doesn’t help either, he who was fined again very recently for suggesting that the Mavs – Warriors referees had been paid…
Luka Dončić got his 16th technical foul of the season, resulting in a one-game suspension. pic.twitter.com/K3X0Np47dA
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) March 26, 2023
Unless the NBA decides to override the technical foul (if it deems it unwarranted), Luka Doncic will miss the game between the Mavericks and the Pacers tonight in Indiana. And given the current situation in Dallas, we can say that the timing is disastrous.
Doncic and his buddies are on four straight losses and now have an overall record of 36 wins for 39 losses. This bad series comes at the worst time, only two weeks from the end of the regular and while everything is being played in a super tight Western Conference. At the time of these lines, the Mavs are eleventh in the standings and therefore do not even qualify for the play-in tournament (one game down on tenth, Oklahoma City). A phrase unthinkable a few weeks ago, especially since Dallas remains in a Western Conference Final.
This suspension, if confirmed, symbolizes the malaise surrounding Luka Doncic today. Frustrated, not at his top level, and visibly affected by private concerns, Luka “no longer has fun” on a basketball court, and it’s all Dallas that sinks…
