Luka Doncic is the Dallas Mavericks' offense. There's no debating that. Everything runs through him on a nightly basis, and he is undoubtedly the best player on that team. Typically, being the best player comes with the responsibility of taking the final shot that could potentially win your team the game or give them a chance to send it to overtime. However, Doncic tends to make the smart basketball play to best position his team to win, which is why it was the right decision to pass on a potential game-tying 3-point shot with around 18 seconds left against the Los Angeles Clippers Tuesday night.
First, here's the play in question that has people divided about whether Doncic should've taken the pivotal shot or not:
There's a lot to unpack about this play. For starters, even if the Mavs made that 3, they would've left around 15 seconds on the clock for the Clippers to potentially win the game. There was no reason to get a play off as soon as they came away with the steal as if there were only five seconds left in the game. Also, Dallas had one timeout left. Rick Carlisle probably should've used it to make some lineup tweaks, like putting Seth Curry -- your best 3-point shooter -- on the floor and to get something set for Doncic to run instead of what happened. Nevertheless, though, the Mavericks got the steal with a chance to tie it and they failed.
By looking at this play alone, the obvious response is for Doncic to shoot it. He's got an ocean's amount of space between him and JaMychal Green to get off a pretty good look at the rim. He already racked up 11 points in the fourth quarter to complete his 36-point night, and, more importantly, he's Luka Doncic. He's built up a small resume over his year and a half NBA career of knocking down shots like this, which is, after all, how he got the nickname "Luka Magic" in Dallas.
However, concluding that Doncic should have shot the ball instead of passing it to Tim Hardaway Jr. would be ignoring a season's worth of stats that say otherwise. Despite the gleaming raw numbers that Doncic is putting up this season, his 3-point shooting is pretty abysmal. He's shooting 32.7 from beyond the arc, including 32 percent on catch-and-shoot 3s. Hardaway, on the other hand, is one of Dallas' best 3-point shooters, averaging 39.2 percent on the season, and an even more impressive 42.2 percent on catch-and-shoot 3s specifically.
After the game, Doncic said he had "zero regrets" about passing up on the game-tying shot, saying it was "100 percent the right decision." Carlisle shared the same sentiment as his star point guard. "The way Tim's shooting the ball, it's a great play."
Hardaway's entire role on this team is to be a catch-and-shoot guy. He's either coming off a screen waiting for someone to pass him the ball to unload a shot, or he's standing around the 3-point line waiting for Doncic to deliver another one of his jaw-dropping passes. Hardaway ranks in the top 25 in NBA 3-point percentage on catch-and-shoot 3s, and second to only Seth Curry on the Mavs at that type of shot. Doncic is the best player on this team, but he's certainly not the best 3-point shooter.
Aside from that, though, look at where Doncic is standing when he gets the pass from Delon Wright:
His left foot is essentially touching the Mavs' halfcourt logo. Doncic has launched from there before, but that's not a high-percentage shot for him when you have Hardaway -- who is also wide open -- set and ready to shoot it. The Mavericks have all the confidence in the world in Doncic's ability and decision making, and this should be no different. It's easy to look at that single play and say he should've shot the ball, but when it comes down to it, he made the smart basketball play in making the extra pass. You're always taught to make the extra pass in basketball, and it worked because the Clippers were not ready for it. Hardaway didn't knock it down, but that is no fault to Doncic.
