Dallas Mavericks‘ Luka Doncic has not been his usual after the shooting slump he is facing at the playoffs. Adding to the trouble, the knee injury that he suffered against the LA Lakers has been quite the bother for the point guard. But all of these seem to be excuses that might be rooted in Doncic’s indecisiveness in guiding the ball to the hoop. Ex-NBA forward Kenyon Martin, while appearing on the post-match analysis show Gil’s Arena, dived deep into Doncic’s game and revealed what the Mavs guard has to do to get back to the way he used to perform in the regular season.

When Kenyon was asked if Luka was delivering as per the expectations from an MVP-level player, he replied, “The only thing that I don’t like about Luka is that he needs to stop complaining.” The NBA veteran was referring here to the incident that happened in Thunder vs. Mavericks Game 1 midway through the first quarter. When Luka tried to contest Lu Dort’s missed 3-pointer, he tripped over the latter’s foot and sprawled on the court. However, when he got up, he was worried about his lower left leg rather than his sprained right knee. Due to the trip, when he complained to the referee about it, the latter just ignored it.

Nonetheless, the tripping in the first quarter seemed to have affected Luka’s game as his performance flump continued while shooting. His from-the-field scoring dropped to 4-of-16 in comparison to 2-of-3 before the trip against Dort. Yet the referee did not make a call. Apparently, the Mavs guard’s field goal percentage has dropped from 48.7% in the regular season to 39.5% in the playoffs. The referee call problems are persistent in the playoffs, but it seems Luka’s complaining might not work moving forward.

The trash-talking might not help Luka Doncic in upcoming playoff games

Luka Doncic’s history of trash-talking and complaining to the referees is not new, though. No wonder he is regarded as one of the most entertaining players in the NBA. One of the best examples of his over-mouthed approach during the games is from the Mavs regular season face-off against the Memphis Grizzlies last year in the fall. Doncic earned the Mavericks a win through his splendid performance. However, he received a technical foul for excessive trash-talking.

Even though everyone agreed on what the foul was about, Luka still complained to the referee that their opponent was the one who started it. But the players were not all for Luka. He roasted the Grizzlies crowd as well by imitating the crying action when the fans were booing. With many such instances. Luka has always been the talk of the town due to heated exchanges during the games. One of the most iconic ones is his trash-talking with Kevin Booker, where both players really went for each other.

However, only words do not score the points for the team in the end. Luka has to step up and score some baskets in the upcoming playoff game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. He is the kind of player who regains his confidence after making some hoops. So it would be a better game if Doncic restored his usual self and gave a tough fight to OKC at Paycome Center arena. Like he remarked, “We lost. We just got to move onto the next one. We’ve got to be better.”