Jason Kidd Rips Into His Team After Embarrasing Loss: "Got To Grow Up"


The Dallas Mavericks had an epic meltdown Sunday, blowing a 27-point lead against the Los Angeles Lakers and losing 111-108. And coach Jason Kidd let his troops know exactly how he felt after the game. 

“I’m not the savior here. I’m not playing. I’m watching, just like you guys. As a team, we’ve got to mature. … We’ve got to grow up," said Kidd.

"As a team we have to mature... We have to grow up if we want to win a championship... There's no young team that's ever won a championship, mentally or physically."

Kidd added that the team needs to stop getting bogged down by distractions, like the officiating.

“We lost our rhythm in the sense of just playing the game and not worrying about the other elements,” Kidd said. “We were playing at a high level on both ends, offensively and defensively, and then we just got a little distracted with the whistle. We’ve just got to be better with that.”

The 'getting distracted' sentiment, and especially the "I'm not the savior" line could easily be seen to be shots at the team's actual supposed savior on the court, Luka Doncic. 

The Mavs have lost three of four games since pairing Luka with Kyrie Irving (who does kind of see himself as mankind's savior — but that's another story altogether.) 

As for Luka, he was asked if he thought that a loss of composure led to the team's collapse. "You can say that, but we still had a big lead," Doncic said. "Sometimes you're going to lose it, but I think we just relaxed a little bit and we've got to work on that."

They've got exactly 20 games to work on that, before the playoffs begin. 

Photo: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports