Mavericks' 'broken record' of excuses has to stop now before it's too late

The start of the 2024-25 season has not gone as planned for Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks.

Mavericks fans had high hopes for the team's potential heading into this season, but injuries and a lack of energy have derailed the Mavs' hopes of getting off to a hot start. Dallas is 5-7 on the year and sitting in 12th place in the Western Conference, and they have to start winning some games to avoid falling into a deep early-season hole.

Outside of the lack of energy and injuries, Dallas is struggling to close out clutch games and their defense has not been great down the stretch of games.

Mavericks have to put their words into action to end losing streak

The most recent defensive debacle happened in Salt Lake City on Thursday night against the Utah Jazz, as a "miscommunication" between Doncic, Quentin Grimes, and Sean Sweeney led to an embarrassing loss as John Collins made an uncosted dunk to seal the deal for the Jazz. Doncic took the blame for this play happening, and although it's great that Dallas' superstar isn't afraid to take accountability, the excuses from every direction can't continue much longer.

Energy and effort are some of the only things on the basketball court that you can fully control, and that has been one of the biggest areas of weakness for Dallas this season. Multiple players have acknowledged that this has been an issue, but little has been done to make a change in this area for the better.

After the loss to Utah on Thursday night, Naji Marshall talked about the ups and downs of the season so far, and he isn't worried despite dropping the last four games.

"Just trying to figure it out, that's all," Marshall said. "Still early in the season, sound like a broken record, but we still trying to figure it out...Sometimes it don't go your way, and we just having a rough patch right now, but we'll definitely get through it."

The confidence from Marshall in this situation is excellent. He has been a major bright spot during P.J. Washington's absence and is averaging 13.7 points per game over the last six games. Marshall has been excellent on both ends of the floor over this stretch, but his statement about finding a way to "figure it out" is just empty words if there's no action behind it from the team as a whole.

Several Mavs players have expressed faith in their ability to get out of this losing streak, but as Marshall said, they are beginning to sound like a "broken record." There has to be a change in how they're playing, and this starts tonight against the San Antonio Spurs.

There is definitely some frustration from the coaching staff all the way down to the players when it comes to this losing streak, and they want to get out of it as bad as anyone. Dallas' injuries, slow starts, rebounding struggles, poor defense at the end of games, inability to finish games in the fourth quarter, and average 3-point shooting are all reasons that the Mavs aren't at the top of the Western Conference right now, and now it's time for Dallas to put all of the excuses aside and put their words into action. Doncic is clearly fed up with how they're playing as well, and a win tonight would be a great momentum shift to help get everyone's energy back up.

Everyone is still fully confident in the team's abilities, and Klay Thompson talked about how it's much better to go through this now rather than at the end of the season. This is a great point from the veteran sharpshooter, but that doesn't change the fact that the Mavs can't let this losing streak last much longer.

Dallas has all the pieces to be a contender in the Western Conference. Now they just have to put it all together and leave the excuses at the door.