DALLAS – Years from now, when the history on Dallas Mavericks forward Luka Doncic will finally be written, there will be those who will undoubtedly tell stories about the damage the rookie from Slovenia did to the Houston Rockets on Saturday afternoon at American Airlines Center.
To be perfectly clear, the Rockets were closing in on closing out the Mavs. The visitors held an eight-point lead with 3:09 remaining in the game and had the momentum in their favor after holding the Mavs scoreless during a nearly six-minute stretch of the frantic fourth quarter.
But down the stretch Houston had a really big problem trying to contain Doncic, who absolutely took over this game and led the Mavs to a pulsating 107-104 triumph in front of a sellout crowd of 20,254. With this improbable victory, the Mavs padded their record to 13-11 and won their ninth straight home game for the first time in nearly eight years.
In the meantime, Doncic put on one of those show-stopping, oh no-he-didn’t shows for the ages. It was memorable in that the Rockets appeared to be cruising to the finish line until Doncic had other ideas as he went on a personal 11-0 tear to turn the Rockets upside down and send them back to Southeast Texas with an 11-14 record.
First, Doncic drained a 3-pointer to get the Mavs within 102-97 of the Rockets. Then he drilled his patented step-back triple, added a deuce, and, for good measure, popped in another step-back 3-pointer to put Dallas ahead 105-102 with 57.8 seconds left.
This 180-degree turn was so shocking since, before catching on fire, Doncic was a pedestrian-like 3-of-13 from the field with only 10 points.
“I wasn’t playing great,” said Doncic, who finished with 21 points, seven rebounds and three steals. “My game wasn’t good at all, but I had confidence at the end of the game.
”I just hit a couple of good shots, and that’s it.”
No, it was more than that.
“That was insane!,” center DeAndre Jordan said of Doncic’s eye-popping performance. “He hit a lot of shots and I’m like, ‘Nah, nah, no way!’ But we’ve seen him do it before.
“It just happened so fast and so many plays back-to-back like that, it was amazing. When he’s playing like that were tough.”
As Doncic was firing away during crunch time, the crowd was hanging on his every shot – and loving every minute of it. In a way, what Doncic was able to accomplish considering the firm grip the Rockets seemingly had on this game at the time was astonishing.
“It was something special, coach Rick Carlisle said. “It is pretty clear that he has a special flare for the moment and he is not afraid.
“You don’t see that every day and it was a unique three or four minutes that he put together at the end.”
While Doncic was busy showing that he has a flair for the dramatic, rookie Jalen Brunson started at point guard in place of the injured Dennis Smith Jr, who missed his second consecutive game with a sprained right wrist which he aggravated in Tuesday’s game against Portland. Brunson, in his second career start, responded with a career-high 14 points, three assists and three steals and was 7-of-9 from the field.
“I just found ways to make plays, not just for myself but for others,” Brunson said. “I’m just finding ways to change the game from being active on defense, getting in the passing lanes and finding ways to make everyone better.”
While all that was going on, Wesley Matthews poured in 21 points and was 4-of-7 from 3-point range in a stellar performance. And Jordan dominated the boards as he finished with 12 points, 20 rebounds and two steals.
“I thought that DeAndre Jordan was the key to the game,” Carlisle said. “You can talk about what Luka did down the stretch, but DJ gave us a consistent and strong-willed paint presence the entire night. It was an amazing effort tonight.
“The effort was there with him in every play tonight. You don’t get there in a game like this without your big guy having that kind of presence and strong will.”
Jordan had eight points and six rebounds in the first quarter, which the Mavs managed to get out of with a slim 32-30 lead. By halftime, when the Mavs trailed 57-56, Jordan already had registered his 15th double-double of the season (12 points, 10 boards) .
James Harden fought off early foul difficulties to lead the Rockets with a game-high 35 and eight assists. Chris Paul added 23 points and eight assists, and Clint Capela finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds for Houston.
But the Mavs got that major burst of energy from Doncic down the stretch and wound up winning their ninth consecutive home game for the first time since January of 2011.
“He’s got an unusual background,” Carlisle said of Doncic. “He has played in a lot of professional games (in Europe), he’s learned over time that the game isn’t over until the buzzer goes off, and this is just one example of an advantage that certain international players have.
“A lot of the guys that come into the NBA don’t play the kind of minutes that he has been playing here. It’s easier for him to digest the game over here the same way. As long as that clock is ticking, we have time to make a move and win the game. That’s his approach.”
That approach bode well for the Mavs on Saturday night.
“Luka, he willed us at the end of this game,” Jordan said. “He took a lot of big shots, a lot of shots that guys wouldn’t take, and we needed him to be aggressive like that.”
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