Quote Board: Mavericks talk after the Game 3 loss

The Dallas Mavericks fell to the Los Angeles Clippers, 118-108, despite jumping out to nearly a 20-point lead in the game’s opening quarter. You can read more about the game here, but it was potentially a momentum-turning loss, depending on how the Mavericks respond in Game 4. However, before we look ahead, let’s see what the Mavericks had to say about the performance Friday night.

Head Coach Rick Carlisle’s general thoughts on the game:

“When they’re playing that small, we’ve got to be able to do a better job on the boards and not get beat by six, that’s one thing. They shot it great. Their two superstars had great games. They rode those guys, they played very well.

They shot, essentially 58% (from the field) and 42% from 3. We shot 44(%) from the field and had a pretty decent night from 3. And then the free-throw line hurt us again a little bit, too. Those are things right off the bat. The other thing that’s a concern is the assist number; 17 is not enough for us. We’ve got to be a higher assist team and that will happen if we can get more stops and get out in transition. Those are always your best opportunities to score.”

Carlisle on getting more out of Kristaps Porzingis:

“There are certain situations where [Kristaps Porzingis] is very good with post-ups. I don’t want to get into a lot of detail explaining the whole thing. But we’re a spacing team first. When we get good, deep post-up opportunities, those are ones we’ve got to attack. Part of the challenge with him is that he’s a very good cutter, he’s a very good spacer. He needs to play the game out of reads and movement.

Let’s be clear. We’re not going to make this about missed shots or opportunities to post up KP or anybody else. We’ve got to defend better. We give up 59% shooting to this team, you’re going to have a very difficult time winning a game unless you’re shooting galactically great. In a playoff series, that’s very difficult to do.”

Carlisle on whether the Mavericks ran out of gas after a quick start:

“Good, strong starts are important. I certainly don’t blame the loss on that at all. I’ll look closely at rotations and stuff like that. They had a great night and we did not. We’re going to have to play a lot better at both ends in Game 4. The crowd was great — they were into it. We’ve got to get them more into it by finding ways to get more stops and rebounds.”

Luka Doncic on getting more out of Porzingis:

“I think on the post we need to feed the post more, I think that’s the thing, they are playing really small and think we should feed the post more.”

Doncic on if his shoulder was bothering him:

“It’s not the shoulder, it was the neck at halftime it went down and it’s just weird. I turn and it’s weird, exercise. I don’t know what you call it but a massage and some ice and hope we’re good.”

Doncic on the turning point of the game:

“I think we took a couple bad shots and we relax a little bit when we go up – so we need to work on that. I especially need to work on free throws.”

Porzingis’ general thoughts on the game:

“We didn’t have our best offensive night nor defensive. We can do both better. Obviously, the game’s long and a lot of emotions and a lot of momentum changes. They [Clippers] were the better team tonight and that’s it. We’re going to look at the film and look at what we can do better and come back next game with a fresh mind.”

Porzingis on his performance:

“Below what I can do, obviously. I was just frustrated at moments and try(ing) to keep my head in the right place. Keep playing hard, keep doing things I can do on the defensive end and offensive rebounds and things like that to keep myself engaged and give what I can to the team. Long game, a lot of emotions, but try to stay calm and just do the things I’m capable of doing.”

Porzingis on his minimal impact when the Clippers played small:

“It’s random. It’s a lot of random action and I definitely can do a better job of sealing the guards when I have a guard on me. Also, I have to score on those post-ups that I have. I had great looks and I just missed shots and sometimes it’s just like that; you miss shots. (I) missed (the) last couple of 3s at the end also. which were tough ones, important ones. Just frustrated a little bit with the shots not going in, but then again, I can’t let that affect the rest of my game.”

Maxi Kleber on the emotions of the game:

“First of all, it was a crowded place and we were super hyped about having our fans. It was super loud and that pushed us as a team. Obviously, on both sides there were a lot of emotions involved. I think that we came out pretty strong and confident and played well. We got an early big lead, but we have to keep the lead and maintain it. We can’t give it away in like two minutes and let them come back like that. Overall, I think on both sides there is a lot of talking and whatever is going on, but we definitely want to focus on the game and keep our head cool. It’s a long series, we just have to focus on our game.”

Here’s the postgame podcast, Mavs Moneyball After Dark. If you can’t see the embed below “More from Mavs Moneyball”,click here. And if you haven’t yet, subscribe by searching “Mavs Moneyball podcast” into your favorite podcast app.