It was all Luka Doncic all the time Tuesday night at American Airlines Center.
The fifth-year point guard completely picked apart Golden State’s defense to the tune of 41 points, 12 rebounds, 12 assists and four steals in an all-around dominant show-stopping performance during the Dallas Mavericks’ 116-113 victory over the Warriors. These 40-point triple-doubles by Doncic – he has three of them this season — have become so routine that coach Jason Kidd joked: “It’s getting boring. I mean, let’s see something different. Maybe do it with his left hand.”
What Doncic did to Golden State was very special, but certainly no laughing matter to Warriors’ superstar point guard Stephen Curry.
“His size and his ball handling skills keep you on edge the whole game,” Curry said. That, plus being a three-level scorer, you have to worry about everything.
“He can get the step-back threes going, so you have to press into him. He is shifty and has a great handle, so he can use his leverage to get by you. He is playing at an extremely high level and is getting better every year.”
With that, here are the three takeaways from the Mavs’ three-point win over the Warriors.
DONCIC DESTROYS THE WARRIORS: Luka Doncic showed again why he should be the front-runner to win this year’s Most Valuable Player award. Doncic now has 20 career games with 40 or more points, becoming just the 10th player in NBA history to accomplish such a feat. He also has five career 40-point triple-doubles, while becoming the sixth player in league history with at least five of those. In addition, Doncic has 13 triple-doubles with 35 or more points, tying him with Wilt Chamberlain and LeBron James for fourth place in NBA history.
TALK WITH KIDD HELPED HARDAWAY: A frank conversation between coach Jason Kidd and Tim Hardaway Jr. apparently helped the 10th-year guard. On Tuesday, Hardaway scored 22 points, was 8-of-16 from the field, including 5-of-11 from behind the three-point line. The 22 points were eight more than the 14 points Hardaway combined to score in the previous four games. This also was Hardaway’s third 20-point game of the season and his second-highest scoring game of the year. His season high of 28 points was scored Nov. 16 against Houston.
GREEN WAS FLYING EVERYWHERE: Josh Green has steadily craved out a place in coach Jason Kidd’s rotation. And it’s games like Tuesday night that shows why Green has deserved more minutes. Not only was the third-year guard diving on the floor for loose balls and running around the court at a frenetic pace. But he also filled in admirably bringing the ball up the floor after Spencer Dinwiddie was ejected for accidentally elbowing Jordan Poole on the chin. Green finished the game with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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