LOS ANGELES — For those folks who haven’t really had time to thoroughly check out his game, Luka Doncic showed a
national TV audience what he’s all about when the Dallas Mavericks took on the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night at Crypto.com Arena.
Need a bucket? Doncic delivered plenty of those. Rebounds, anyone? Doncic grabbed more than his share of those. Any assists on the menu? Doncic rolled up his sleeves and distributed a handful of those.
The final tally collected by Doncic during the Mavs’ 119-115 double-overtime victory over the Lakers was 35 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists. It was his 10th triple-double of the season – one shy of Denver’s Nikola Jokic, who leads the NBA with 11 triple-doubles.
Even more poignant, Doncic now has nine triple-doubles this season where he’s scored at least 30 points. The other 400-plus players in the NBA have COMBINED for just six 30-point triple-doubles this season.
And for icing on the proverbial cake, Doncic drained a dramatic three-pointer with six seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime. And he also drained another eye-popping three-pointer with less than a minute left in overtime that sent the game into double-overtime.
In a nutshell, Doncic simply reminded folks why he should be the leading candidate to capture this year’s Most Valuable Player award.
“(Doncic) was incredible,” coach Jason Kidd said. “He was Luka.”
Center Christian Wood went even farther, saying: “He’s a big shot maker. He’s been doing that since he got in the league, and we trust him to make those big shots and he really carried us (Thursday) and helped us fight and get this win.”
Guard Tim Hardaway summed up the night for the Mavs, saying: “Any time you’ve got 77 (Doncic) on the floor, it’s a chance and you’ve got a great chance to win the ballgame. He did an excellent job.”
Here are the three takeaways from the Mavs’ four-point win over the Lakers.
DONCIC WAS THE KING: The headline leading up to Thursday’s game was Luka Doncic and the Mavs vs. LeBron James and the Lakers. Doncic played a game-high 53 minutes, scored a game-high 35 points, snatched a team-high tying 14 rebounds, distributed a gam
e-high 13 assists, and was 14-of-28 from the field, including 4-of-9 from the three point line. James played 47 minutes, scored 24 points, grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds, handed out a team-high nine assists, missed his final seven shots, and was 9-of-28 from the floor and misfired on all seven of his three-point attempts.
WOOD A DEFENSIVE BEAST: Throughout his career, Christian Wood built a reputation for being a player who can go get a bucket, and a player who can get rebounds. Defense? Well, Wood was never known to have that ingredient mixed in as part of his game. But try telling that to the Lakers. Wood blocked five shots Thursday night, including one against LeBron James right under the basket just before the overtime clock expired. He also was constantly mixing it up on defense and swatting balls away in the double-overtime session, even after he rolled his right ankle.
DINWIDDIE WAS SOLID: Spencer Dinwiddie stepped up in a very big way for the Mavs. Not only did he finish with 17 points, four rebounds, four assists and two blocks. But he also was 7-of-13 from the field, including 2-of-6 from behind the three-point arc. In addition, Dinwiddie reminded folks that he’s got some serious hops to his game. That rang true when he skied through the air for a flying dunk that put the Mavs up, 105-103, with 1:58 left in overtime. Dinwiddie then opened the double-overtime session with another flying dunk that had the crowd buzzing. He also gave the Mavs a 118-113 lead with a layup with under a minute remaining in double-overtime.
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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