There’s no doubt that Luka Doncic has set a super-high bar for himself. How else to explain why the Dallas Mavericks’ superstar point guard was critical of himself following the staggering numbers he produced during Sunday’s 117-101 loss to the Chicago Bulls at American Airlines Center?
Doncic finished the game with 36 points, 16 rebounds and 15 assists in racking up his fourth triple-double of the season. But what truly bothered the Mavs’ third-year phenom was that after he manufactured 30 points, seven rebounds and five assists in the first half, but in the second half had six points, nine rebounds and 10 assists.
“The second half I played terrible,” Doncic said. “I was being selfish a little bit because, you know, I had 30 points in the first half.
“That wasn’t me in the second half. I’ve got to do way better than that. That’s just on me. I shouldn’t be doing this.”
Doncic was 11-of-19 from the field and 6-of-9 from 3-point range in the first half, and 2-of-11 from the floor and 0-of-2 from beyond the 3-point arc in the second half. Still, the nine second-half rebounds he pulled down was more than anyone had in the entire game except for the 10 boards gathered by the Bulls’ Lauri Markkanen.
“We were all disappointed with our performances,” said forward Kristaps Porzingis, who finished with 20 points, eight boards and two blocks. “(Luka is) the same way.
“He always expects greatness from himself, and I’m the same way. We have a lot of high character guys that want to do the right thing on the court.”
Coach Rick Carlisle certainly understands Doncic’s line of thinking, adding that the numbers his playmaker produced against the Bulls were phenomenal.
“The stats are spectacular,” Carlisle said. “But without a win he won’t be happy with it, either.
“Individual stats are impressive, but we’re in the business of trying to win games and we just came up short.”
With his performance on Sunday, Doncic joined Oscar Robertson (five times), Wilt Chamberlain and James Harden as the only players in the history of the NBA to rattle off a 35-point, 15-rebound, 15-assist stat line. Also, Allen Iverson, Harden and Doncic are the only players over the past 20 years to register as many as 30 points, seven rebounds and five assists in the first half of a game.
“Luka’s a great player, and not taking anything away from his game, we need that,” forward Wes Iwundu said. “What he did today, he showed that he can do that. That’s the type of caliber player he is. Now for the other players, it’s our job and our responsibility to go out there and help him as well.
“Whether that’s helping out on defense, helping out on offense as well. We know what Luka’s going to bring – everyone knows what he’s going to bring to the table. For us, we’ve just got to go out there as a team and try to help him and take some of that pressure off of him any way we can moving forward.”
One thing’s for sure. When the Mavs (6-6) play the Toronto Raptors on Monday at 6:30 p.m. in Tampa, Fla., Doncic will likely again put as much pressure on himself to produce for 48 minutes as he did on Sunday. That’s just the way superstars of his nature are wired.
Doncic now has four triple-doubles in his last six games and 29 for his career – one more than Michael Jordan. He also had 34 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists after the third quarter on Sunday, and according to Elias Sports, that’s the first time any player has pieced together a 30-point, 15-rebound, 10-assist triple-double stat line after three quarters since the 1996-’97 season.
However, individual stats aside, Doncic could only think about his second-half performance against the Bulls.
“I was just taking some shots I shouldn’t be taking,” Doncic said of Sunday’s second-half output. “I just got to do way better than this, and as a team we’ve got to step up, especially defensively and bring the energy.
“There are no fans in the building, so the energy don’t come from the fans now. So we’ve got to create our own energy and go there and try to win every game.”
MLK Day: On Monday, America will celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and there are nine games on the NBA docket, including the Mavs’ contest in Tampa, Fla., against the Toronto Raptors.
“It’s always been meaningful, it’s always been significant,” coach Rick Carlisle said of MLK Day. “With the events of the last nine months going back to George Floyd, Jacob Blake, the incident at the Capitol (on Jan. 6), they just put a brighter light and a more powerful microscope on the importance of Dr. King’s work.
“I just think, top to bottom in this league, there’s going to be an even stronger feeling about it.”
Twitter: @DwainPrice
Share and comment