The Super Bowl may be Sunday, but folks in Dallas are still abuzz about that out of this world supernatural performance on Saturday between Dallas Mavericks superstar point guard Luka Doncic and Golden State Warriors superstar point guard Stephen Curry.
Final score: Mavs 134, Warriors 132.
But the final score aside, those few who were inside American Airlines Center were treated to one whale of a performance. Make that two whales of a performance between Doncic and Curry.
In willing the Mavs to their second victory over the past three games, Doncic poured in a career-high tying 42 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dispensed 11 assists. He was 12-of-23 from the field and a splendid 7-of-12 from beyond the 3-point arc.
On the flip side, Curry had already produced 41 points early in the third quarter and finished the game with a whopping 57 points. He was 19-of-31 from the field and an unconscionable 11-of-19 from the 3-point stripe.
“Ridiculous, the shots he was hitting,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of Curry. “The degree of difficulty — the ease with which he made them. He’s never played better.
“We’re talking about a two-time MVP, three-time champion. I’ve never seen him like this. He’s obviously always been an incredible shooter, but he looks stronger to me just getting by people, fending them off on drives to the rim, finish, and of course the shot-making. It’s almost unfathomable what he’s doing out there.”
Kerr obviously was equally impressed with Doncic.
“I never saw him play in Europe, so I read about him before I actually saw him play,” Kerr said. “From reading about him I expected him to be pretty good, and he exceeded that – my expectations.
“I think that the first thing that struck me when I saw him up close is just how strong he is, how he gets anywhere he wants on the dribble, because of his strength. He looks like a middle linebacker out there. Obviously, he’s extremely confident. He plays with a lot of swagger and has the skill set to back that up. He’s a brilliant player and fun to watch. Great for the league.”
And great that the basket much have looked like an ocean on Saturday to two of the game’s marquee players.
“Depending on how the defense is guarding you, there are some tough looks,” Curry said. “But for the most part I was able to see where the help was coming from and where the screens were coming from and get to my spot.
“That always is a good feeling when you feel like you are in a good rhythm and you just need a clean look for things to fall, but you are also able to just stay aggressive and not get taken out of that rhythm. It was that type of night.”
It was the type of night where the Mavs seized control early – going up 18-2 after a pre-game pep talk from owner Mark Cuban — and had to fight like heck to fend off the Warriors in the end. And as the night wore on, Doncic and Curry kept putting up and converting video game-type shots that would make any basketball purist stand up and applaud.
“We came out ready, got that lead early on and then just tried to stay patient, stay consistent throughout the game with the ups and downs and crazy shots that Steph made,” center Kristaps Porzingis said. “Luka had an amazing game.
“Both of them were just going off. I’m glad we secured the win at the end.”
Coach Rick Carlisle said no one should fault his players for the jaw-dropping shots Curry were able to make, because that’s what players of Curry’s ilk do. They tend to make defenses look out of sorts.
“I thought a lot of the possessions we contested him well,” Carlisle said. “But he’s got that ability to step back so quickly and change the geometry of the flight of the ball so that you can’t block it and he still makes it at a ridiculous rate — 11-for-19.
“There were very few completely uncontested shots. He’s going to get some in a game. Some of them come off rebounds and those guys find him, stuff like that. It’s just, I don’t know. He’s one of the guys I’d pay a lot of money to watch play.”
Many folks would also probably pay a lot of money to watch Doncic play, too. And it’s probably no secret that the third-year playmaker likely got even more motivated on Saturday when he noticed what Curry was accomplishing on the other side of the court.
“Obviously, you know every game that (Doncic) goes into everybody is trying to attack him and go against him, and their defense is always going to double-team on him,” forward Maxi Kleber said. “So he’s trying to find solutions to score and get everybody else involved and trying to have the best game he can have. Games like (Saturday) when you play against one of the best in the world, obviously I think that’s a little push for him, too.
“But you know Luka in general is a guy who always wants to win and he takes everything very personal, so I think he doesn’t need the extra motivation. But obviously it doesn’t hurt if you have a guy like (Curry) who can go off like that and have (Doncic) answer every time he comes down, basically.”
Breakout game for Kleber: After missing 11 games due to the NBA’s health and safety protocols, forward Maxi Kleber had his best game of the season on Saturday against the Warriors.
Kleber finished with a season-high tying 16 points, a season-high four assists, and eight rebounds — one shy of his season high. He also tied his season high with four made shots from 3-point territory.
And just to put a bow on his huge night, Kleber drilled a clutch 3-pointer with only 5.6 seconds remaining which put the Mavs ahead, 134-130. It was a memorable occasion for Kleber, who just returned to the lineup last Monday after being in the league’s health and safety protocols following the Jan. 9 game against the Orlando Magic.
“Being sick at home obviously is not fun, especially when your guys are playing,” Kleber said. “I’ve got to be honest.
“Coming back from that and when you’re sitting at home for like more than 20 days, it really hurts the first couple of practices. The games, your legs are heavy, you feel slow. I still feel slow.”
The Mavs have missed an NBA-high 41 player-games due to the health and safety protocols. That includes nine games missed each by Josh Richardson and Dorian Finney-Smith, eight by Dwight Powell and four by Jalen Brunson in addition to Kleber being sidelined for 11 games.
Kleber said: “I hope me and all the other guys that had to sit out that long get back in shape and get to moving again, because if you rest that long it takes some time.”
As far as Saturday’s game is concerned, Kleber acknowledged that the Mavs received a huge energy boost from owner Mark Cuban, who spoke to the team before the game at the request of coach Rick Carlisle.
“What I like the most about the game (Saturday) was our body language,” Kleber said. “There is going to be plays where we mess up or don’t do the right thing, but everybody lifted everybody else up. Even Mark said we’ve got to come out there with the right body language and help each other out, and that’s what we did.
“It wasn’t really so much about basketball. Obviously we want to win the game, but it was more about what do we do as a team? Missing so many guys, losing so many games, it’s really exhausting and tough to come back from that. You’ve got to earn every game. The biggest thing for us I think was (Saturday), body language and coming out and playing with the right energy.”
The Mavs (10-14) hope to again bring the right body language to the court and play with the right energy when they host the Minnesota Timberwolves (6-17) on Monday at 7:30 p.m. at AAC.
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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