The Mavericks have been forced into wounded animal mode

The mindset and fight required to survive when things are against you makes for special opportunities

Anybody can survive under ideal circumstances. Wounded animal mode is the mindset and fight that it takes to survive through the adverse circumstances. Just because a deer has a wounded leg doesn’t mean the coyote won’t attack it when it’s weak. The deer must find a way to fight to live another day. Just like the deer, teams will also find themselves in bad spots throughout the year. Whether it’s fighting through injuries, rebounding from embarrassing losses in the regular season, or facing elimination in the post season, you will eventually find yourself in a place where you’ve got nothing except your ability to fight.

After a Christmas Day loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves that saw Luka Doncic suffer a considerable strain to his left calf, the Dallas Mavericks once again find themselves in wounded animal mode. They’ve been here before already this year, after starting the season 5-7 and suffering four straight losses by 3 points or less. That would’ve broken other teams, but these Mavericks got into wounded animal mode and responded by winning eleven of their next twelve games. But in this case, they are not only staring down the barrel of Doncic’s absence that could span for upwards of a couple of months. They’re about to run into a stretch of schedule that could define their season.

Starting on Friday, the Mavericks will be on the road for five of their next six games, including a back-to-back on Friday & Saturday against the Phoenix Suns & Portland Trail Blazers. They’ll also see the Houston Rockets and Memphis Grizzlies on the road in this stretch. The lone home game is against the Cleveland Cavaliers, who have only been the best team in the league this year. All told, before the All-Star Break, which is a generous timeline for Luka’s return to play, the Mavericks will see the Cavs, Celtics, Thunder, Nuggets and Rockets twice each.

Luckily for the Mavs, they’re the best equipped that they’ve ever been to fight through this. Kyrie Irving is a bonafide superstar who has shown the ability to step into that “number one” role already this year. PJ Washington has shown he can take his game up a level when called upon. The big man platoon of Dereck Lively & Daniel Gafford is a constant that this team can lean on. As our own Mette Robinson wrote in her Beyond Basketball series earlier this year, while Luka Doncic missed time with a wrist sprain, role players like Naji Marshall, Quentin Grimes & Spencer Dinwiddie have each played damn well starting and playing heavier minutes in Luka’s absences. But most importantly, this team without Luka just fights. Per Cleaning the Glass, the Mavs are +2.7 points per 100 possessions without Luka Doncic on the floor this year. If that was a team in the NBA, they’d be 10th best team in the NBA based on net rating. Without your best player, that level of fight is the embodiment of wounded animal mode.

Facing this stretch of basketball without Luka Doncic might turn into something that defines the 2024-25 Dallas Mavericks, for better or worse. it’s going to be hard, and it’ll be made even harder by not having their all-world star player available for a long stretch. But what makes special teams special is their ability to get into wounded animal mode and come out on the other side better for it. The Mavericks are there now, and I get the feeling that this team is up for that fight. Now it’s just time to see it.