WASHINGTON — About two hours before the Mavericks’ 113-105 loss Thursday night to the Wizards, Washington head coach Wes Unseld Jr. revealed Dallas’ former star center, Kristaps Porzingis, would not play because of a left groin strain.
Buzz around the second post-trade reunion sapped, right?
Someone must not have alerted Spencer Dinwiddie.
Or the Wizards.
Dinwiddie, representing the second-most-notable third of “The Kristaps Porzingis trade” at the NBA’s deadline last February, tallied 33 points, (11 of 17 from the field and 7 of 12 from three), six assists, four rebounds and one steal in 37 minutes in his second return to Washington.
But the Wizards won a third consecutive game against the Mavericks by outscoring them by 11 points in the second half despite playing sans-Porzingis and All-Star Bradley Beal, marking the second time in as many nights and the fourth time in 11 games this season that Dallas has wilted against inferior teams without their best players.
Like the front half of this back to back Wednesday in Orlando, Doncic struggled Thursday with shooting efficiency: 22 points (8 of 21 from the floor and 3 of 8 from the foul line), nine rebounds, six assists and his third technical foul of the season in 39 minutes.
After coach Jason Kidd worried aloud for the first time that his superstar couldn’t sustain his current load through Christmas, much less the whole season, Dinwiddie served as a more-than-supportive backcourt mate against a team he never felt the same.
Now the Mavericks need the rest to follow suit.
Before the game, Jason Kidd gave his most forceful, unprompted thoughts about Doncic’s do-everything offensive role through 10 games.
The 23-year-old leads the NBA in usage rate — involved in 38.3% of his team’s plays when he’s on the court. That’s 1.9 percentage points higher than Giannis Antetokounmpo (36.4) and 3.2 percentage points higher than Ja Morant (35.1).
The difference may appear slight, but over the court of 82 games, particularly in a condensed schedule with back-to-backs, travel and the physical force with which Doncic plays that defenses exert, the extensive involvement will take a toll.
“If we keep this up,” Kidd said, “then he will not be human if he gets past Christmas. So one or the other is going to show: He’s human or not, and we believe he’s human.”
In other words, the Mavericks have to find a way to decrease their superstar’s burden and receive consistent production throughout the rotation, especially down a third true ball handler without Jalen Brunson.
Dinwiddie has done his part.
The 29-year-old guard hit his first four shot attempts, including three 3-pointers, to help the Mavericks unleash a 20-2 run early in the first quarter and score more points in the first 2:44 of the game (14) than they did in the entire fourth quarter a night earlier in the loss to Orlando (13).
In this back-to-back — a rarity for Dinwiddie last season after ACL surgery — he appeared at his most explosive level since arriving in Dallas after a disgruntled four months in Washington.
Tim Hardaway Jr. added 16 points, and Dwight Powell 14 in his second consecutive start at center, but without Christian Wood (left knee sprain) on this road trip, the Mavericks are even thinner on options for how to run the offense beyond Doncic.
Perhaps to blame for lethargy across the roster, not just with Doncic: a two-hour bus ride to Tampa after the loss in Orlando to ensure the team plane could take off for Washington amid Tropical Storm Nicole conditions in Central Florida.
Or perhaps a hangover from last year’s stinging defeat in Capital One Arena.
Most fans pointed to that final loss of the regular season, April 1 against the Wizards, as the reason the Mavericks missed the No. 3 overall seed and Western Conference finals home-court advantage over eventual champ Golden State by one game.
All losses count the same, but wasting a 36-points-in-36-minutes outing from Doncic in what many expected would be a playoff-motivated win over Porzingis and the playoff-eliminated Wizards added to the regret.
Though now five months from when this regular season will end, Doncic used the same word — “regret” — to describe the 94-87 loss Wednesday to the rebuilding, injury-riddled Magic.
He needed to find a stronger word Thursday.
