NBA Southwest

Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd lamented his team's third-quarter performance in a 126-117 loss to the Golden State Warriors in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals on Friday night.

Kidd specifically took issue with the Mavs' shot selection in the third, telling reporters: "When you go 2-for-13 and you rely on the three, you can die by the three. And we died in the third quarter by shooting that many threes and coming up with only two."

To Kidd's point, the Mavericks owned a 14-point lead at halftime, but the Warriors outscored them 25-13 in the third quarter, which set the wheels in motion for Golden State's comeback win.

Now, the Dubs own a 2-0 series lead and have the Mavericks on the ropes as the series heads to Dallas.

While the three-ball helped Dallas build a big lead in the first half, it went away in the second half, which opened the door for Golden State to claw its way back into the game.

Overall, the Mavericks went 21-of-45 from beyond the arc, shooting a strong 46.7 percent. Per ESPN's Tim MacMahon, ESPN Stats & Info found that the 21 made trifectas were tied for the third most by a team in a playoff loss in NBA history.

The fact that Dallas shot the ball so well from long range in the end despite going 2-for-13 in the third quarter speaks to how deadly they were in that regard in the first half.

Remarkably, four of the Mavs' five starters made three or more three-point field goals each during the game and shot the ball 50 percent or better from deep.

Luka Doncic, Jalen Brunson, Reggie Bullock and Dorian Finney-Smith combined to go 19-of-33 from three-point land.

The issue for Dallas was the fact that its bench players combined to make just two of their 12 tries from distance.

Golden State is the team usually known for three-point-shooting excellence, and while it only attempted 28 threes in the game, its efficiency was on point in making half of them.

Stephen Curry led the way for the Dubs with 32 points, including six trifectas on 10 attempts, but the surprise star of the game was center Kevon Looney, who ate up the Mavs in the paint with 21 points and 12 rebounds.

As for the Mavs, they squandered a remarkable showing from Doncic, who scored a game-high 42 points to go along with eight assists, five rebounds and three steals.

Doncic seemed to agree with Kidd's assessment after the game, stressing the importance of getting to the basket rather than settling for threes: "We weren't attacking the paint that much. But we got to attack the paint more, like they did. They attacked the paint a lot. They have two of the best shooters in the world, and they still attack the paint. So I think we've got to rely less on the three."

Luka did much of his damage from the charity stripe, going 13-of-15 from the free-throw line, illustrating the importance of getting in the paint.

Given that fact and Kidd's frustration with how things went down in the third quarter in Game 2, the Mavs may have a far different game plan for Sunday's Game 3. 

Golden State Warriors center Kevon Looney put on a show Friday with 21 points (10-of-14 shooting) and 12 rebounds in a 126-117 win over the Dallas Mavericks in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals at Chase Center.

The Warriors fell behind by as many as 19 points and trailed 72-58 at halftime, but Looney dropped 11 points and five rebounds in a third quarter in which Golden State outscored the Mavs 25-13.

He put the Warriors up for good in the fourth quarter with a layup with 8:29 remaining.

Twitter was ablaze both during and after Looney's tremendous outing.

The Kevon Looney game

- First career 20-point game
- Held the Mavericks to 1-for-11 shooting as primary defender
- Held Luka Doncic to 0-for-3 shooting as primary defender pic.twitter.com/MkaR8VxIFP

— Kirk Goldsberry (@kirkgoldsberry) May 21, 2022

Steph, Wiggins and Looney. pic.twitter.com/fEop7CKq2H

— StatMuse (@statmuse) May 21, 2022

Kevon Looney tonight pic.twitter.com/NVfqkyTE7s

— RingerNBA (@ringernba) May 21, 2022

Warriors legend Kevon Looney.

— Eddie Paskal (@EddiePaskal) May 21, 2022

Kevon Looney is the first Warriors center with a 20/10 playoff game since Robert Parish in 1977. pic.twitter.com/LOBecakSy0

— StatMuse (@statmuse) May 21, 2022

Looney is honest to God the Warriors MVP today

— Josh Eberley 🇨🇦 (@JoshEberley) May 21, 2022

Kevon Looney vs. the Mavs: pic.twitter.com/5pj0HxYfRo

— FanDuel (@FanDuel) May 21, 2022

Looney better be on the espn/abc graphic for G3

— Sam Esfandiari (@samesfandiari) May 21, 2022

https://twitter.com/OMGItsBirdman/status/1527849346577977345

The last time Kevon Looney scored 20 points in any organized game was Jan. 8, 2015...when he was a freshman at UCLA.

That spanned his last 20 college games & first 421 NBA games of his career. He has 21 pts & 10 rebs (& counting) currently vs the Mavericks pic.twitter.com/2erQAsayK6

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) May 21, 2022

Looney has been an important piece for the Warriors rotation during the majority of his seven-year career, but he's not necessarily a stat compiler (6.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per this season). That changed in Game 2, though.

Looney and the Warriors will now head to Dallas for Game 3 of the best-of-seven series Sunday at 9 p.m. ET at American Airlines Center.

Dallas Mavericks point guard Luka Doncic "is not 100 percent" for Game 2 of his team's Western Conference Finals matchup against the Golden State Warriors on Friday at Chase Center because of an illness, according to TNT's Allie LaForce.

"He [Doncic] just told me about an hour ago that he didn't feel sick until after he got to the hotel after Game 1," LaForce said on Inside the NBA (h/t Ali Thanawalla of NBC Sports Bay Area). She added:

Gets to his room and he's throwing up, he cannot sleep for even a second. So he wasn't 100 percent at practice the next day. I said, 'Well, did you get better sleep last night?' and he said 'Eh, not really.' I said, 'Well, did you sleep eight hours?' And he said, 'No, but I did get better sleep than the night before.' So he is on very little sleep. He did sound stuffed up to me still. He is not 100 percent.

Doncic had 20 points on 6-of-18 shooting and seven turnovers in a 112-87 loss in Game 1 on Wednesday.

Those numbers are far worse than Doncic's typical regular-season and playoff performances.

Of note, the 23-year-old averaged 32.6 points on 47.6 percent shooting, 9.9 rebounds and 7.0 assists per game against the top-seeded Phoenix Suns in the second round. He averaged 28.4 points, 9.1 rebounds and 8.7 assists in the regular season.

Ultimately, no one played all that well for the Mavs in Game 1 aside from perhaps Spencer Dinwiddie (17 points in 24 minutes), but this series is a long way from being over.

And the illness hasn't appeared to affect Doncic early on, as the superstar made four of his first five shots from the field Friday.

Dallas and Golden State won't have much time to rest in this series, with a game scheduled every other day. The conference finals will head to Dallas for Game 3 on Sunday at American Airlines Center.

The Golden State Warriors hounded Luka Doncic in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, limiting him to 20 points on 6-of-18 shooting in a 112-87 blowout of the Dallas Mavericks.

Andrew Wiggins served as Doncic's primary defender for most of the game, earning praise from his teammates afterward.

"He was moving them puppies tonight," Klay Thompson told reporters. "That's why he was the No. 1 pick. You can't teach that athleticism. You can't teach that length. You can't teach his timing. I'm just happy the world is getting to see who he really is, and that's an incredible wing player, and he will be like this for the next 10 years."

Doncic shot 5-of-11 and turned the ball over three times when defended by Wiggins, who regularly picked the Mavericks guard up full court and harassed him as he brought the ball up the floor.

"I feel like I'm still young. I don't really get too tired," the 27-year-old Wiggins said. "I'm locked in. I'm motivated, and when you see it work or I feel like it's helping us play better, it just motivates me to do it more. I'm not tired or nothing. You know, it's adrenaline. I just feel good."

Wiggins also added 19 points and matched Stephen Curry with a team-high three three-pointers. While his NBA career won't ever match the "Maple Jordan" hype he had coming out of high school, Wiggins has increasingly found his niche in Golden State. He's learned to be a committed defender, shot a career-high 39.3 percent from three during the regular season and seemingly relishes in allowing the spotlight to be on others.

In games where he's fully engaged like Wednesday night, Wiggins can look like the Warriors' second- or third-best player.

Fear not, Dallas Mavericks fans.

Luka Doncic will be sober for Wednesday's Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors.

After a photograph of Luka Doncic holding a beer spread across social media Wednesday, a Mavericks spokesperson said it "wasn't taken today," per TMZ Sports.

https://twitter.com/AttackTheRack/status/1526966747051565057

That means the Dallas star will be ready to roll as he looks to continue dominating the playoffs in what will be his first appearance in the Western Conference Finals.

While Doncic missed the first three games of his team's opening-round victory over the Utah Jazz, he has been brilliant since his return. He averaged 29.0 points, 10.7 rebounds and 5.7 assists in the next three games while helping the Mavericks close out the Jazz and then elevated his game against the top-seeded Phoenix Suns.

He posted 32.6 points, 9.9 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 2.1 steals per night across the seven contests and dazzled with a 35-point double-double in Game 7 while leading his side to a 123-90 win on the road.

The matchup with the Warriors, who have reached five of the last seven NBA Finals and won three of the first four championships in that span, will give Doncic an opportunity to further cement his stardom on a national stage.

Competing against the championship DNA of Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and head coach Steve Kerr will be no easy task, but neither was eliminating the league-best Suns in such dramatic fashion.

If Doncic keeps playing at the level he has throughout the playoffs, the Mavericks may win the entire thing.

And if they do, any beer drinking will surely be celebratory.        

Houston Rockets general manager Rafael Stone says the team is open to trading the No. 3 pick in the 2022 NBA draft if a deal "makes sense."

"I'm definitely not gonna block them out," Stone told reporters after Tuesday's lottery drawing. "If they wanna talk, I'm always available to talk. ... If it's the case that they're interested in doing something, we're always available to listen. If there's something that makes sense for both teams, something will get done." 

#Rockets GM Rafael Stone says he’ll listen to other general managers who express interest in trading for the third-overall pick: “If there’s something that makes sense for both teams it’ll get done.” pic.twitter.com/Wyhr5amax2

— Mark Berman (@MarkBerman_) May 18, 2022

A top-three pick has not been traded since the 2018 draft, when the Atlanta Hawks and Dallas Mavericks agreed to a swap that included the rights to Luka Doncic and Trae Young. The highest pick traded last year on draft night was No. 10 (Ziaire Williams).

Chet Holmgren, Jabari Smith and Paolo Banchero are widely considered the top three players in the 2022 draft class. All three would fit into a young Rockets core, and they could also consider Purdue guard Jaden Ivey.

That said, there's a reason teams have tended to avoid trading down on draft night in recent years. Historically, the NBA draft is a top-heavy endeavor where the players drafted highest have the most success. While there are outliers, Holmgren, Smith and Banchero (and to a certain extent, Ivey) all have star-level potential that would make a trade back questionable.

Unless a young, proven player who fits into the Rockets' rebuild becomes available, look for them to stay where they are during the June 23 draft. 

Dallas Mavericks point guard Luka Doncic heaped praise on Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green ahead of their Western Conference Finals matchup.

"Obviously, [Klay Thompson] and [Stephen Curry] are incredible offensive guys, but I think the key to the Warriors' team is Draymond," Doncic told reporters Tuesday. "He's just unbelievable. I really respect him and everything he does."

According to ESPN's Tim MacMahon, "That includes trash talk."

"That's the fun of the game. I love that part," Doncic added.

Game 1 will go down on Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET at San Francisco's Chase Center.

Both Doncic and Green are coming off phenomenal performances.

Doncic dropped a game-high 35 points en route to a 123-90 win over the top-seeded Phoenix Suns in Game 7 of the Western Conference Semifinals. He notably led the Mavs in points, rebounds, assists and steals during the series.

Green had a 14-point, 15-rebound, eight-assist showing in a series-clinching 110-96 win over the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 6. He's a battle-tested jack-of-all-trades who has won three NBA titles and earned four All-Star nods during his career.

Green hasn't been shy about complimenting Doncic and has done so on multiple occasions:

Draymond Green on Luka Doncic: “That dude good...he gonna be a problem...He’s lifted that franchise.” pic.twitter.com/Dfc5DG0TD0

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) December 23, 2018

Draymond Green: "Luka Doncic made a statement where he said 'It's easier for me to score in the NBA than it was for me to score in Europe' and everybody went crazy, like 'how disrespectful is he'.

He's shown that it's true."https://t.co/lxDCcLGsUG

— Eurohoops (@Eurohoopsnet) February 9, 2021

There isn't exactly a war of words or bulletin-board material being swapped between two teams who clearly have mutual respect for one another.

Doncic also discussed the loud and passionate Warriors fanbase:

Luka Doncic soundbites on the Warriors today. He talked style of play, Draymond Green and the Chase Center crowd: “This a loud gym, man. I’m not lying.” pic.twitter.com/XKXaEEiGGK

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) May 17, 2022

Doncic is clearly living in the moment as he advances to his first-ever conference finals.

Luka Doncic: “I’m living my best life right now.” pic.twitter.com/mgHc9xa1nu

— Callie Caplan (@CallieCaplan) May 17, 2022

The Warriors are back in the conference finals for the first time since 2019, which capped a five-year stretch in which they made it to the NBA Finals (three titles). Dallas is making its return for the first time since 2011, when it went on to win the Finals over the Miami Heat.

When Zion Williamson has been healthy, he's looked like one of the most exciting young superstars in the NBA. The issue, of course, has been that he's only been on the court for 85 total games in his first three seasons, which included missing the entirety of the 2021-22 campaign because of a fractured right foot. 

So as he heads into his fourth season, soon to be extension-eligible, there are questions about what financial commitment the Pelicans will be willing to make for the oft-injured Williamson and whether he'll be willing to commit his future to New Orleans. 

"Obviously, that conversation is going to be one that will be a challenge," executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin told reporters. "When it's time to have that, we'll have it. And right now what we're focused on is him being healthy, and [being in] kind of elite condition to play basketball, and we'll start there."

The other issue for the Pelicans is that Williamson and the team have never appeared to be on the same page when it comes to his injury rehabilitation and timeline for return, with reports over the summer that there was a rift between the two parties. 

If there is a rift, however, it's one the Pelicans would assuredly want to work past. After all, Williamson is averaging 25.7 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game, shooting 60.4 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from three. 

There's little doubt that he has superstar potential and is the sort of player to build around, injuries or not. 

And there is precedent for giving a potential superstar who struggled with injuries early in his career a max contract. The Philadelphia 76ers did it in 2017, signing Joel Embiid to a five-year, $146.5 million deal that protected the franchise if he didn't hit certain games-played benchmarks. At the time of the contract, Embiid had missed his first two seasons and only played 31 games.

The Sixers most certainly don't have buyer's remorse on that contract, as Embiid has gone on to be the MVP runner-up two seasons in a row. 

And the Pelicans have built a solid roster, making the playoffs this past season behind the play of Brandon Ingram, CJ McCollum and a young supporting cast. That Pelicans team gave the Phoenix Suns fits in the first round before bowing out in six games. 

Returning Williamson to the mix would make New Orleans a real threat in the Western Conference. And at least publicly, he's said he wants to be back.

"I can't control rumors and how people feel about certain things. ... Anybody who knows me, knows I want to be here," he told reporters in early May. "If they feel otherwise, I can't help that. But if you know me, you know I want to be here."

The extension talks to keep him in New Orleans, however, may prove to be complicated. 

Ja Morant isn't leaving Memphis anytime soon.

The Grizzlies guard was excited about the prospect of potentially signing a contract extension when asked Sunday at his season-ending press conference.

"Memphis is my home. When that conversation comes up, I feel like it'll be in the media for everybody to see," Morant told reporters. "If your answer is, 'Do I wanna be in Memphis?' Hell yeah."

Ja Morant on does he want to be in Memphis “Hell yeah”

There’s your answer for his upcoming extension that he’s expected to sign this summer. pic.twitter.com/AhfCvNlwJe

— Evan Barnes (@evan_b) May 15, 2022

Morant will be eligible for a five-year, $217 million supermax contract this offseason, assuming he makes an All-NBA team (a virtual guarantee). The league's MIP averaged 27.4 points, 6.7 assists and 5.7 rebounds while leading the Grizzlies to a franchise-record 56 wins.

It appears the money won't be an issue for the Grizzlies, as general manager Zach Kleiman told reporters Sunday there won't be "any issues paying anyone who we want to pay" in order to keep the team together.

"There's never going to be any issue with retention here," Kleiman said.

A bone bruise in Morant's knee ended his postseason early, forcing him to miss the final three games of Memphis' second-round series against the Golden State Warriors. He averaged 38.3 points, 8.3 assists and 6.7 rebounds over the first three games of the series.

Offering Morant the full supermax is a no-brainer for the Grizzlies. He's already on the shortlist of the greatest players in franchise history and plays with a superstar flair that's going to make him a marketing goldmine.

As long as Morant wants to stay in Memphis, the Grizzlies will and should spend whatever money possible to keep him around.

Don't expect this to be a complicated negotiation.

Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies were eliminated from the 2022 NBA playoffs by the Golden State Warriors on Friday night, but the All-Star point guard is already looking forward to his next showdown with Stephen Curry.

Morant, who missed the final three games of the second-round series with a knee injury, posted a message on Twitter after the season-ending loss:

fav matchup. 💪🏽 looking forward to more battles 30.. https://t.co/qsBkINpjBD

— Ja Morant (@JaMorant) May 14, 2022

The 2022 NBA Most Improved Player was off to a tremendous start in the series before the injury. He averaged 38.3 points, 8.3 assists, 6.7 rebounds, 4.3 threes and 3.0 steals while shooting 50.6 percent from the field.

Memphis still trailed the series 2-1 despite Morant's standout performances. It split the first two games without him in the lineup but couldn't keep pace with the star-studded Warriors on Friday night.

"Ja is one of the best point guards in this league, so you guys know that obviously it would change," Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks told reporters. "But we made do with what we had."

Klay Thompson led the way for Golden State with 30 points in the series clincher. Curry wasn't far behind with 29.

After injuries derailed the Warriors' last two seasons, they've re-emerged as championship contenders and are now just eight wins away from their fourth title since 2015.

All of the Dubs' key contributors remain under contract for next season, so if the Grizzlies want to get through the West and make a push toward the first championship in franchise history, they'll likely have to get by Curry and Co. at some point in the journey.

"They know that we're going to come every single year," Brooks said. "We're young, they're getting old so they know we're coming every single year."

A healthy Morant is a key piece of the puzzle. Memphis head coach Taylor Jenkins said Wednesday the dynamic guard shouldn't require surgery during the offseason, which bodes well for his chances of being ready for the start of the 2022-23 campaign.

Based on Morant's comments after Friday's loss, it sounds like the first thing he'll do after next season's schedule comes out is circle the matchups with Curry.