More than halfway through the fourth quarter, the game had already entered garbage time.
Both teams had sent out their full bench units, and the game had long since lost the intense atmosphere it had carried in the first half.
A deficit of more than twenty points hung over the Mavericks' heads, making every step difficult.
For the Mavericks players, time suddenly seemed to move very slowly.
The ball went out of bounds, stopping play, and the broadcast cameras took the opportunity to cut to a close-up of Luka Dončić.
Dončić, who usually wore a constant smile even on the bench, looked utterly dejected today.
He rested his chin on one hand, his brows tightly furrowed.
A week ago in Dallas, against the Los Angeles Lakers and James, he had put up 31 points, 13 rebounds, and 15 assists. The team had ultimately come within inches of stealing a win from the Lakers.
And today, 28 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists looked decent enough at first glance.
But from the second half until now, Dončić had scored only 5 points! Of his 28 points, 23 had come in the first half.
From the start of the third quarter until now, he had been completely locked down by Link.
On top of that, Dončić had committed as many as 8 turnovers today.
As a primary ball-handler, Dončić had averaged 3.6 turnovers per game so far this season.
Yet today, his turnover count had nearly doubled.
All of it was thanks to Link.
Those seemingly dazzling numbers simply could not make him happy.
Because in front of Link, his performance had been so dismal.
If he had truly played as well as his stats suggested, the Mavericks would not have been sent straight into garbage time.
Dončić shook his head. He