Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving take blame for Mavs' loss to Wolves - ESPN

DALLAS — Luka Doncic blamed himself for the Dallas Mavericks having to board a flight to Minneapolis instead of beginning their break before the NBA Finals.

«I think that game is on me,» Doncic said after the Mavs failed to finish the Western Conference semifinals with a sweep, suffering a 105-100 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in Tuesday's Game 4. «I just didn't give enough energy.»

Doncic recorded his sixth triple-double of these playoffs with 28 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists. However, he had a poor shooting performance (7-of-21 from the floor) and matched Mavs forward P.J. Washington for the worst plus-minus of the night (minus-13).

Dallas co-star Kyrie Irving also had his worst offensive outing of the series, scoring 16 points on 6-of-18 shooting with four turnovers. Irving also took accountability for the Mavs' five-game winning streak getting snapped, specifically citing his sloppiness in the first quarter for setting the wrong tone.

«He's not alone in this,» Irving said. «I expect him to say something like that, especially knowing how much he cares and how much he wants to win and how much he wants to lead our group. So I expect nothing less. I think you heard me, too, just say that it's on me. That's what you're supposed to hear from your leaders of your team.»

The Timberwolves changed the primary defensive assignments on Dallas' star duo. Jaden McDaniels, who had the Doncic assignment for the first three games of the series, chased Irving in Game 4. Anthony Edwards defended Doncic after spending most of the first three games on Irving.

It was the first time this postseason that Doncic and Irving both shot worse than 35% from the floor.

«It's not on them, it's on us as a team,» Mavs forward Derrick Jones