Three quarters of the way through Thursday night’s loss to the Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic had just 14 points on 6/17, a trend of slow starts surrounding him this season. He was electrifying in the fourth quarter, with 15 points on 6/8 shooting in the final frame, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the significant hole the Mavs found themselves in as they fell 108-102.

After the loss, Doncic took the blame for the loss and said he needed to move forward better.

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“That’s on me,” Doncic said in his post-match press conference. “I started off pretty bad so I’ll take the blame because I have to do better than that. I know I can do it. I just have to focus and play my game.”

He wasn’t the only reason the Mavericks fell to Houston at the American Airlines Center, but he was the catalyst. His frustrations over bad calls or missed layups spilled over to the rest of the team, and he was noticeably upset when they couldn’t close defensive possessions with a rebound.

The Rockets won in large part due to their efforts on the offensive glass, grabbing 18 offensive boards that led to 20 second-chance points. They were also the beneficiaries of some maddening offenses by the Mavs.

A slow start doomed the Mavericks to failure early, but they still have a 3-2 record through the first five games. If their offense can get off to a better start, they can beat just about anyone, but so far this season they are shooting under 40% in the first quarters.

Doncic entered the season as the favorite to become MVP, especially given the momentum he and the team carried over from last year’s trip to the NBA Finals, but Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has now overtaken Doncic a week into the season on FanDuel. There’s still plenty of time for Doncic to correct himself and get back on track for MVP, but his start to the season has been especially concerning outside of his performance at Phoenix.

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