Quoteboard: Jason Kidd, Grant Williams, and Luka Doncic speak after loss to Kings

The Dallas Mavericks fell to the Sacramento Kings on Sunday night, losing 129-113. It was the first Mavericks home game in a while but as it was the second night of a back-to-back and they looked a bit tired and couldn’t keep pace with the high-scoring Kings. If you missed the recap or the stats to know, be sure to check these links.

Here’s what the coach and a few of the players had to say:

Jason Kidd

(On giving up 22 second-chance points in tonight’s 129-113 loss...)

“We talked about it before: understanding who was going to crash, and we didn’t do a good job of boxing out tonight. We played up to when the score was 73-73, and we kind of just got disconnected from there.”

(On the play of Kings center Domantas Sabonis tonight...)

“He’s an All-Star. He’s one of the best at his position. He dominated the paint tonight. We double-teamed him, he got to the paint, and they found him on the roll. He had his way tonight. We have to be better.”

(On the biggest defensive challenges for Mavericks rookie center Dereck Lively II...)

“He’s just young. He’s got to go through it. This is the NBA. It’s not college. He just has to go through it. The more minutes that he’s on the floor, he’ll get better. Not today, but in a couple months, he’ll understand what he has to do. He’s giving everything he has. We’ve got to continue to stay positive, and he’s going to get better.”

Luka Doncic

(On what happened in tonight’s loss and if it was running out of gas after a long road trip…)

“I think we’ve just got to get better at our defense.”

(On how the team’s rebounding and giving up second-chance points impacted the game tonight…)

“Yeah, that’s part of the defense and the physicality. I think those two things we need to get way better [at].”

Grant Williams

(On which aspects of the defense can be improved…)

“Yeah, I think it’s mainly just our effort. Understanding we can trust one another. We’re taught our principles every single day, so being mindful of those. Our physicality has to improve.”

(On how tough it is handling Sabonis who was 13-for-15 from the field…)

“Yeah, it’s not even that. He was scoring in isolation. That’s something that he doesn’t really want to do. That’s not his game. That’s not what he enjoys for his game. His game has always been making other people involved and better. So, he was just walking down the lane against us, doing pick-and-roll and shooting layups. That’s something we have to be better at — our low man being present and available and then having the low man’s back — that’s something we have to improve on and be mindful of because either we have to make a play at the rim and not allow these layups and things to happen, or we have to foul somebody and show a little bit of toughness.”

(On accounting for De’Aaron Fox when he is shooting so well from three…)

“His pace is incredible. When he makes shots, especially those pull-ups, it makes him difficult to guard. Making his life a little bit more difficult, pressuring the ball, will be necessary.”

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