Clippers - 126, Mavericks - 111
Q. Obviously not the way you wanted to see this season end. And this is a close-knit group. For you, what do you believe this team needs to do to take the next step forward, whether it be personnel-wise or something different to go into next season?
LUKA DONCIC: I think that's a question you should ask the guys that make decisions, right? I'm just a player here. But we will give everything to play great. We give everything, I'm very proud of this team. Obviously I hate losing. We hate losing, but I'm proud of my team.
Q. Now that you've had a second run through the NBA playoffs, what have you learned about playing in this league at this time of year?
LUKA DONCIC: Always you learn different stuff, but just the playoffs is different than in the regular season, and Game 7 is the toughest game. Gotta give everything, and today wasn't the result we wanted. And we'll come back next year.
Q. Obviously you care about winning, not numbers. But the numbers you put up in this series were ridiculous. What do you think you've been able to prove in this series and even last year in the playoffs?
LUKA DONCIC: I mean, nothing yet. We made the playoffs twice since I've been here. We lost both times, so at the end you get paid to win. So we didn't do it.
Q. Last year against the Clippers you guys never led in the series. This time you were up 2-0 and had three games at home. Do you feel like when you look back at this series are you going to look back at it as one that got away?
LUKA DONCIC: You're going to look -- every series you lose you're going to think like that -- what we could do better, or which games will we win. But that's in the past, we've got to look forward to next season and get the mistakes out.
Q. At the end there, was Paul George trying to exchange jerseys with you? And as a follow-up, what does it mean to you to -- obviously you played a longer series this time, but to lose to the same team in back-to-back years?
LUKA DONCIC: The first one, yeah, we did exchange one after, in the locker room.
And the second one, it's tough when it's the same rival. You obviously don't want to lose again. And like I said, we have to come back next year, look at the playoffs in particular, what we did right and what we did wrong. And get back there.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports