Mavs aim for new level with new leader

Coach Kidd, Doncic and a healthy Porzingis focus on elusive playoff success

DALLAS—Now that Luka Doncic has led his home country deep into the Olympic tournament, the star point guard’s next task is getting the Dallas Mavericks out of the first round of the playoffs.

His new coach happens to be the last point guard to win a post-season series in Dallas, and Jason Kidd’s best bet to do it from the bench 11 years later likely means figuring out how to turn Kristaps Porzingis into the European sidekick the Mavericks — who play in Toronto on Saturday night — always envisioned.

“The simple way to put it is I want K.P. to be a basketball player,” Kidd said. “Being able to roll, to be able to shoot the mid-range, to able to put the ball on the floor. I want him to be who he is, a basketball player, and not just be limited to shooting threes or crashing from the corner.”

Porzingis was little more than a decoy in a second consecutive first-round loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, this time after Dallas won three times on the road and had a chance to end the series at home before losing that one and Game 7 in L.A.

An unexpected shakeup in leadership included the resignation of Rick Carlisle, who coached Kidd, Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs to the franchise’s only championship in 2011.

Soon after Kidd was hired and Nico Harrison replaced Donnie Nelson as general manager, Doncic signed his $207-million (U.S.) extension, a rookie supermax record.

Then it was off to Tokyo, where the 22-year-old led Slovenia to the semifinals of the small country’s first Olympics before consecutive losses kept them from earning a medal.

Now Doncic and Porzingis, the seven-foot-three Latvian, will try to rediscover the formula that led to them averaging nearly 55 points per game combined in the playoff bubble in 2020 before Porzingis was sidelined by a knee injury.

This off-season was the first for Porzingis that didn’t involve rehabbing from a knee injury since before his all-star season with the New York Knicks in 2017-18. He tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee not long after that all-star nod.

“He’s in way better shape this year, especially mentally,” Doncic said. “I think he’s going to have a great season this year.”

While he’s still looking for that first playoff series victory going into his fourth season, Doncic has a dizzying list of accomplishments. One of them was needing less than two seasons to break Kidd’s franchise record for triple-doubles. Doncic has 36 in the regular season. Kidd had 21 of his 107 in two stints with the Mavericks, who drafted him second overall in 1994 and traded for him in 2008.

“I look at Luka as a young Picasso,” Kidd said. “I don’t know if anybody told Picasso that he had to use all the paints. I just want to remind Luka that he can rely on his teammates, that his teammates are going to be there to help him. I’m very exited to have this opportunity to work with a young Picasso whose paintings have been incredible up to this point and are only going to get better with time and age.”