A pitfall to having Luka Doncic? TV forces Mavs to play twice in 22 hours in two cities
Luka #Luka
Friday night’s showdown between the Mavericks and Bucks and MVP candidates Luka Doncic and Giannis Antetokounmpo was great for the NBA, great for ESPN viewers, great for most basketball fans in general.
But not so great for the Mavericks’ physical and mental wear and tear — or their outlook for Saturday night’s game in Chicago.
That’s because Friday night’s 9:10 p.m. tipoff in American Airlines Center was less than 22 hours before Dallas’ scheduled 7 p.m. Saturday tipoff in Chicago against the Bulls. With the Dallas-Milwaukee game destined for a 11:30 p.m.-ish finish, it meant fewer than 18 hours of recovery time for the Mavericks — who weren’t scheduled to land in Chicago until 2:50 a.m., which meant not reaching their hotel until after 3.
The reason, or blame, is of course TV, in this case ESPN, which pays the NBA billions of dollars for broadcasting rights. TV money literally is the lifeblood of the NBA.
“I haven’t seen this before, so this will be a first and we’ll handle it with class,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “We can only focus on tonight — even though we wish this was baseball or spring training, so we can have a split squad so we can send half the squad up to Chicago.”
That last quip was one of several baseball references Kidd made, saying the unusual time crunch between games essentially turned the Mavericks’ challenge into a double header.
For the record, Kidd wasn’t so much complaining as he was responding to reporters’ questions about the situation. Earlier this week, the Mavericks hosted Phoenix at 7:30 p.m. on Monday and the following night played at Denver at 9 p.m. Dallas time. That was more typical of an NBA back-to-back, with slightly more than 24 hours between the starts of the games.
To have two home-road back-to-backs in the same week seems excessive, even by NBA standards.
“The league does its best of trying to do the right thing,” Kidd said. “Unfortunately this week has been tough.
“It is what it is, the schedule. You’ve got to play it out. But they’ve got to look at this because this isn’t right. I understand TV pays the bills, but we could have played at 7, 7:30. But maybe they’re looking at something different, too, to see how this goes. Maybe they got other plans coming, so we’ll see.”
Being at the mercy of TV scheduling comes with the territory when you have a player of Luka Doncic’s stature and popularity. Having Doncic has reaped the franchise untold millions and worldwide visibility. It’s the primary reason Dallas will host its first Christmas Day game since 2011 when LeBron James and the Lakers come to town later this month.
“We’re very fortunate to have Luka and, yes, national television is prime when you have one of the best players in the world,” Kidd said. “But I don’t know if it helps, playing at nine o’clock at night and then tomorrow playing in Chicago. It is what it is. We’re not going to complain or say it’s unfair. We’re going to go play the game.”
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