Luka Doncic got as much enjoyment out of his second All-Star game Sunday night in Atlanta as he did out of his first All-Star game last year in Chicago.

In the starting lineup for Team LeBron for the second consecutive year, Doncic helped his team to a spirited 170-150 victory over Team Durant at State Farm Arena.

“It was fun,” the Dallas Mavericks’ superstar point guard said. “There were a couple of fans – but not the whole arena — so it was different. But I had fun anyway.”

Team LeBron raised $1.25 million for the Thurgood Marshall College Fund for winning the first three quarters and the game, while Team Durant raised $500,000 million for the United Negro College Fund.

Doncic wound up playing 32 minutes and finishing with eight points, three rebounds and eight assists, and was 3-of-7 from the field, including 2-of-6 from three-point territory. And while his stats weren’t as gaudy as Mavs fans are accustomed to, Doncic definitely had his moments.

The most impressive quarter for Doncic was the third when he turned up the volume. That’s when Doncic hurled a length-of-the-court inbounds pass to Giannis Antetokounmpo for a basket and followed that up with a pass inside to Nikola Jokic for a dunk.

Doncic then let out a huge laugh after draining a 3-pointer. From there he proceeded to drill another 3-pointer, then fed Stephen Curry (28 points) for a triple.

Before the third quarter was in the books, Doncic had already matched his scoring total from last year’s All-Star game, tripled his rebounding total and doubled his assist total. In his inaugural All-Star game last year, Doncic played 18 minutes, tallied eight points and collected one rebound and four assists.

Doncic said the highlight of the night for him was: “Just playing the game. It was different without fans, but just being out there playing the game.”

Less than three minutes into the game Doncic lobbed an inbounds pass to Antetokounmpo, who scored on the play and wound up tallying a game-high 35 points on 16-of-16 baskets while winning the Kobe Bryant Most Valuable Player award.

Not even a minute later, Jokic received a pass inside from Doncic and scored. And just to show that he would rather rack up assists than points, Doncic got right under the basket and rifled a pass all the way outside to Curry, who drilled a three-pointer and did a little shimmy dance.

In the second quarter, Doncic fired a pass to Domantas Sabonis for a dunk. And after Doncic negotiated a pump-fake pass to Kawhi Leonard,, he stormed in for a dunk, TNT analyst Chris Webber was so impressed that he said:

“You can sleep on Doncic’s athletic ability if you want just because he has a step-back three and he plays with pace. But if he gets past you, he can flush on you.”

That first half was highlighted by Curry making 6-of-8 shots from three-point range, including three of them from the north side of Atlanta. Curry and Chris Paul converted back-to-back lob dunks, and Damian Lillard (32 points) and Curry followed that up by burying consecutive shots near midcourt to highlight a 21-2 run by Team LeBron and give them a 100-80 lead at intermission.

Doncic, who hails from Slovenia, was part of a record nine international players – including five starters — named to this year’s All-Star team. That includes Joel Embiid (Cameroon), Rudy Gobert (France), Kyrie Irving (Australia), Ben Simmons (Australia), Nikola Vucevic (Montenegro), Serbia’s Jokic, Greece’s Antetokounmpo and Lithuania’s Sabonis.

That lineup was extra sweet for players like Doncic, especially considering just four short years ago, Marc Gasol (Spain) and Antetokounmpo were the only international players named to the 2017 All-Star game.

“It says how much European basketball has improved,” Doncic said. “I think there are more (European) basketball players in the NBA than before and I think a lot of people give us respect and I think it’s good for world basketball, not just European basketball.”

One of those former European players who used to be one of Doncic’s teammate is ex-Mavs forward Dirk Nowitzki, who earned 14 All-Star berths.

“For me his legacy is unmatched,” Doncic said. “What he did for Dallas and for the European basketball, it’s just unmatched.

“He’s always going to be the legend – one of the best power forwards in the game that I ever saw. He’s just a great, great player.”

In a normal year, All-Stars like Doncic would have been required to be in the city where the game was being played on a Thursday. But this year in the modified version of All-Star Weekend due to the coronavirus, Doncic didn’t arrive in Atlanta until Saturday and he flew back to Dallas after the game.

“For me it’s better,” Doncic said. “It’s quicker. You’re in and out in one day, so it’s good, but it’s so different with no people here. All-Star games are for the fans and I wish they were here.”

Doncic came to Atlanta with his girlfriend, mom and a short list of Mavs front office employees.

“I wish some of (the Mavs’ fans) could enjoy this and come to Atlanta to see the game,” he said. “But hopefully next year.”

Doncic was taken aback that one of the autographed rookie cards recently sold for $4.6 million, while Tom Brady’s autographed rookie card only sold for $1.32 million.

“That was really surprising,” Doncic said. “$4.6 million is a lot of money.

“You can buy a lot of things with that, but I was surprised. I really appreciate it.”

As far as this season is concerned, Doncic has been operating at a high level. The three-year veteran is fourth in the NBA in triple-doubles (seven), fifth in assists (9.0), seventh in the NBA in scoring (28.6), and also averages 8.4 rebounds.

Doncic is at the forefront of a Mavs’ team that was just 9-14 on Feb. 4 following a 147-116 home loss to the Golden State Warriors, but went into the All-Star break with an 18-16 record after winning nine of their last 11 games. The only team with a better record over their last 11 games are the Brooklyn Nets, who were 10-1 and whose lone loss was to Doncic and the Mavs.

“It was kind of a tough stretch right there when we lost five or six in a row,” Doncic said. “But I think the last couple of games we picked it up and I think we’re going up and up and just learning from the moment.”

Speaking of moments, Doncic recalled March 11 of last year when the Mavs were at home against Denver, and news came down that the NBA season would be suspended after Utah center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus.

“It was weird,” Doncic said. “Nobody knew what was happening.

“I just heard (Mavs owner) Mark (Cuban) saying the season was canceled, so it was kind of surprising.”

Twitter: @DwainPrice

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