Dallas coach Jason Kidd says star man Luka Doncic needs more support from his team-mates after the Mavericks fell 2-0 behind in their second round series against Phoenix Suns.
(This article was originally published on 05.05.2022)
Dallas are 17/2 to win the series, while Phoenix can be backed at 2/1 to go all the way and win the NBA Championship outright.
Mavs have mountain to climb
The Suns claimed a convincing 129-109 win in Game 2 on Wednesday despite Doncic leading the scoring with 35 points.
The Slovenian All-Star managed 45 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists in the series opener but his performances haven't been enough to stop Phoenix opening up a commanding lead ahead of the next two games in Dallas. You can follow the action via our Sports Live Streaming platform.
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Kidd demands improvement
Doncic missed three games of Dallas' first round series with Utah Jazz and the Mavs managed to win two of those games before going on to claim a 4-2 series win, but Kidd feels the rest of his team simply haven't performed against the Suns and he says the 23-year-old needs more support if they are to mount a fightback.
"He had a great game, but no one else showed," said Kidd, via abc News. "We've got to get other guys shooting the ball better. We can't win with just him out there scoring 30 a night - not at this time of the year. And we're playing the best team in the league, so we've got to get other guys going."
He added: "We need to do a better job of helping him [Doncic]. They're bringing him up into everything. We knew that coming into the series. We knew that in the last series. We did a better job of protecting one another, not just Luka. We've got to get back to protecting one another for Game 3 back at home."
