DALLAS -- Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle, in an attempt to protect his franchise's superstar, publicly complained that the physical defense teams play against Luka Doncic frequently crosses the line.

"They're beating the s--- out of him," Carlisle said before Saturday night's 123-120 home loss to the Charlotte Hornets. "He's handling it well, but teams are taking liberties on him.

"We saw it with Dirk [Nowitzki] for 20 years here -- my 11 years -- all the time. Taking physical liberties on him, trying to knock him down, beat him up, stuff like that. It's not good. It's not good. He's handling it very well, but it's happening every game."

Doncic has emerged as an early MVP candidate as a 20-year-old, averaging 29.4 points, 9.7 rebounds and 8.9 assists per game in his second NBA season. He ranks fourth in the league with 9.1 free throw attempts per game, but Carlisle believes that number should be significantly higher.

Doncic agreed with Carlisle's take but didn't want to complain about officiating.

"It's true -- I'm not going to lie," Doncic said after a 39-point, 12-rebound, 10-assist performance in the loss to the Hornets. "But you know, it's just basketball. It's a physical game. If the refs see it, they're going to call it. If they don't see it, they're not going to call it. But I've just got to keep going. Just keep going."

The Mavs have reason to be concerned about the toll the physical defense is taking on the 6-foot-7, 230-pound Doncic's body. He was briefly in concussion protocol and suffered a sprained left wrist and back contusion due to a frightening fall after a hard foul by Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard in a Dec. 29 loss. Doncic suffered a thigh contusion in a loss Tuesday to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

"I don't like it, and I'm constantly communicating it to the people that are involved," said Carlisle, who declined to say if those discussions include the league office. "Look, he's a great player, so people are going to go after him. It doesn't mean that a lot of the stuff is right or in the spirit of what the game should look like.

"We've just got to make the officials aware of it constantly. What happens is teams will come in and they'll set a level of aggressiveness. There's a level where it's so physical that they only call a certain number of fouls. We've got to be able to play like that. We've got an aggressive team, but taking liberties is not good. He's got scratches on his arms all the time and stuff like that. It's not good."

Doncic acknowledged last month that he sometimes allowed his frustration with officiating to become a distraction, discussing the issue after a Dec. 8 loss to the Sacramento Kings. Doncic had received a technical foul for the second time in three games, and officials made a crucial no-call when a hit on his elbow should have resulted in a foul that would have sent him to the line for the potential tying free throws with 7.7 seconds remaining, according to the next day's last-two-minute report.

"They're humans; they make mistakes," Doncic said then. "I make mistakes; everybody makes mistakes. Just sometimes they don't see it and they don't call it. Like I said, I've got to calm down and go to the next play."