Twenty minutes after Tuesday night’s 15-point loss to the Clippers, poof, Luka Doncic was gone, nowhere to be found in the Mavericks’ locker room.

The only evidence that Doncic even had paused at his locker stall following his 22-point, 4-of-14 shooting, seven-turnover performance was the pile of dirty clothes on the floor, college-dorm-room-like.

Fourteen hours later, Doncic was back to doing the sport he so clearly loves, this time at the Mavericks’ Lympo practice facility, laughing and trash-talking during a spirited one-on-one-on-one game with Courtney Lee and Justin Jackson.

2 observations: Lee is a fun trash-talker and Luka’s got the makings of a passable going. pic.twitter.com/FweFJOEmIU — Brad Townsend (@townbrad) November 27, 2019

Later, unshaven and sweaty, Doncic explained his hasty postgame departure.

“I was feeling sad yesterday,” he said. “Not feeling great. I was pissed. I went straight home. You just have to get through it. When we lose a game like this and I have a bad game, I feel like I let everybody down and I want to be alone.

“Next day, it’s all better.”

A great thing about being 20 years old is that, invariably, better days indeed are ahead.

An advantageous thing about being a team like Dallas, which hasn’t been to the playoffs in three seasons and wasn’t expected to be anything close to an upper-tier Western Conference contender this season, is that a home loss to the Clippers is rather easy to put into perspective.

Especially the day after the fact.

“Just a bad game,” Doncic said. “Move on.”

Still, even bad games can be constructive. Doncic certainly wasn’t the reason the Mavericks’ five-game winning streak came to an end against the championship-aspiring Clippers.

One day after being named Western Conference Player of the Week, Doncic had an eight-point, four-assist, four-rebound first quarter despite 1-of-6 shooting and getting knocked to the court at least three time, on one occasion coming down hard on his left elbow, on which he wore a sleeve Wednesday.

When Doncic departed the game late in the first quarter, Dallas only trailed 28-25. By the time he returned, the deficit was 48-32.

Dallas never got closer than 10 points the rest of the game, even when J.J. Barea provided a 12-point second-half spark off the bench — showing, as coach Rick Carlisle put it, “great synergy” on the court with Doncic.

Barea, 35, made it a point to speak to Doncic after the game. Barea, perhaps more than any veteran Maverick, including Dirk Nowitzki, mentored Doncic last season. This season has been no different, even though Doncic often has been dominant on the court.

Barea said he told Doncic after the Clippers loss, “Hey, this is good for you. This is good for us. This is to let you know this is the level we’ve got to get to.”

Added Barea: “It was coming easy, the last couple of weeks for him. To get hit in the head a little bit, I think it should make him work a little bit harder now, too.”

The Mavericks (11-6) won’t practice on Thanksgiving, but will depart late in the afternoon to begin a road trip that has them playing Phoenix (Friday), the Lakers (Sunday) and New Orleans (Tuesday).

Doncic likely will see more defenses of the physical nature that the Clippers used against him. Doncic attempted 16 free throws, making 14. He said the Clippers physicality wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.

“Everything’s physical with me,” he said.

Add Clippers star Paul George to the list of opposing players and coaches to express admiration of Doncic’s play at such a young age.

Paul George on slowing Doncic pic.twitter.com/Fm7JZNaOsq — Brad Townsend (@townbrad) November 27, 2019

“I think that’s what makes it so impressive,” George said. “Because he’s doing it, but he doesn’t know what he’s doing, if you get what I’m saying.

“He’s still a baby. He’s got so much that he’s going to grow. He’s really going to figure it out and he’s already doing amazing right now. It’s going to be scary when he fully figures it out and he starts to really hit his prime.”

Porzingis sits: Kristaps Porzingis sat out of Wednesday’s practice because of a sore right knee. It is not the same knee in which Porzingis suffered an ACL tear in February 2018, requiring surgery.

Carlisle said Porzingis’ right knee issue is not believed to be serious.