Dallas hangs on for the 104-102 victory over OKC
Luka Doncic is quickly showing the world why he is one of the best guards in the league., Doncic has 41 career triple-doubles, five this season. The other 349 players who have ever played for the Mavericks have a combined 40, with three of them coming in the last 5 games.
He has been the franchise player Dallas has been looking for when the time came for Mavericks legend and leader Dirk Nowitzki retired and they have found it with Luka. The Mavericks were able to withstand a late run by the Thunder to barley hold on to the win 104-102.
Doncic did most of his scoring at the free-throw line, where he hit 12 of 14. He was 4 for 17 from the floor, missing all six of his 3-point shots. “I try to do other things better because obviously I couldn’t make nothing,” Doncic said. Jason Kidd commented on Doncic’s shooting struggles. “He’s gotten great looks (from distance),” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “He’s just got to keep shooting them. That’s it. I think we’ve seen the best shooter in the world not make all his shots in (Steph) Curry.”
While Kristaps Porzingis has been trying to get back to his regular minutes coming back from the NBA’s protocol with COVID, Head Coach Jason Kidd is still hesitant on playing Porzingis more than 30 minutes a game. Porzingis played 27:33 in his second game back, He left the game for good with 3:51 to play with Dallas leading 94-91 and appeared upset when subbed out.
Dallas came in allowing 102.7 points per game, the third fewest in the league but during its winning streak of nine wins in 10 games, it has given up an average of 94.5 points per game. They need to have the teammates around Luka creating separation from the defense to distract them from guarding Luka. Doncic has scored 20 or more points in seven consecutive games.
The Mavericks host Toronto on Wednesday in the first of a home back-to-back so we’ll see if they can keep the momentum going.
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