The Dallas Mavericks can only feel miserable about their continuing horrendous showing from the charity stripe which robbed them of their Friday contest against the Milwaukee Bucks.
In hindsight, the Mavs have beaten themselves with plenty of missed free-throw opportunities down the stretch. In less than four minutes remaining, six total attempts were wasted which could have placed them atop the Bucks.
It all started when Tim Hardaway Jr. bricked all of his three free throw bonuses from the foul of Giannis Antetokounmpo from a long distance. And in what could be the most crucial moment, Dorian Finney-Smith caught cold and didn’t capitalize his two shots from the line which allowed Milwaukee to capitalize a game-winning play to be up by one from a Brook Lopez quick layup off the inbound pass, 106-105.
In total, the Mavs have shot 10-for-24 from the line, which worsens their 27th-ranked consistency from shooting penalty shots at 73 percent.
“If you shoot 41 percent, that’s not very good,” coach Jason Kidd said, via Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com. “Ten-for-24. In a one-point ballgame, the small things matter. In the fourth, we were 7-for-15. So we were getting to the line. We just didn’t make ‘em. Especially there late. We practice free throws all the time. It’s just unfortunate that we didn’t make them at the right time.”
Luka Doncic had himself another MVP-type of the game with 27 markers, 12 assists, and five boards in 35 minutes played, but he only added free throw woes on the Mavs as he registered a personal 4-for-9 in the stat sheet.
As such, Doncic took full responsibility for missing his own rewards on the line.
“It starts with me,” Doncic said. “You got to make the free throws. It’s a free shot, nobody’s guarding you. You just got to take your time and knock it in.”
Dallas will look to return to the win column and raise their shooting consistency as they face the Chicago Bulls on Saturday.
