As he was sitting on 29 points Friday night, Luka Dončić started going into a spin cycle that would make any of the greats proud.
It was Kobe-esque. Maybe even Olajuwonian.
Through his legs a couple times. Changing directions. Faking left. Wash, rinse, repeat.
And he finally got a sliver of an opening for a one-legged fadeaway that found the net somehow to close the third quarter and give the Mavericks a 16-point lead.
As he sat on his backside firing imaginary pistols, Luka cracked a major smile.
That shot not only kept his streak of 30-plus-point games going, but was the sort of deflating moment for an opponent.
The Mavericks went on to nudge the Toronto Raptors 111-110 Friday night at American Airlines Center as Dončić would go on to finish with 35 points.
The signature move left the crowd mesmerized and the Mavericks grateful for another Luka moment.
“There were too many moves,” Dončić said about the play. “The ball escaped a little bit. It was a hard shot. I don’t know how I made that.”
But when he did, it was proof that it was just another one of those nights for him.
“It’s just fun – those plays are fun. Later you see it on TV and everybody talks about it. Tough shots. When you make it, it’s so fun.”
Dončić had another complete game and got lots of help from Spencer Dinwiddie, who had 21 points, seven assists and two free throws with 3 seconds to play to ice it.
When Toronto tried every gimmick defense it could think of to make life hard on Luka, Dinwiddie took advantage.
“Big win against a hot team,” coach Jason Kidd said. And then he went into his Luka analysis.
“He did one of those little spin moves in front of me when he split the double team,” Kidd said. “I wonder if he surprises himself sometimes. Did he go through his legs like eight times?
“He was doing his dance and when he shot that little floater, I kind of chuckled because only he can do that. Efficient, he did everything tonight. And he let Spencer go, too. He went over there, they were in a box-and-one, he just stood there and watched. He trusted his teammates. Spencer was great for us.”
Dončić has dropped 30 or more points in all eight games this season. He ties Wilt Chamberlain for the second-best scoring start to a season.
Chamberlain had eight consecutive 30-plus games to open the 1959-60 season and a whopping 23 in a row at the start of the 1962-63 season. That record might be a bit out of reach. But given the way Luka is going, who knows?
And, most importantly, the Mavericks now have won three in a row, moving to 5-3. Toronto fell to 5-4,
The Mavericks took charge when they came out of the gate in the third quarter with a 14-2 blitz. Luka scored nine of the points and the Mavericks moved out to a 76-59 advantage.
From there, it was a matter of not letting the Raptors, who were playing without all-star guard Fred Van Vleet, to retake the momentum.
But that’s what they did midway through the fourth quarter, creeping within 100-97 before Dorian Finney-Smith tipped in a Dwight Powell miss, then on the next possession, cut to the bucket and took a pass from Powell for a dunk and a 104-97 lead.
The Raptors had trouble scoring but got it back within 108-105 in the final 30 seconds. Luka got fouled with 15.9 to go and hit a free throw to push the advantage back to four with chants of “MVP, MVP, MVP” ringing through AAC.
After Dinwiddie’s free throws countered a Raptors’ dunk, a meaningless Toronto 3-pointer at the buzzer accounted for the final score.
Earlier, the Mavericks were having troubles, as most teams do, with the Raptors’ length. Every one of their starters has a wingspan pushing 7-feet or wider. And they got a lot of deflections and blocks in the early going.
Still, the Mavericks were doing a great job of limiting Toronto’s fast-break chances. This is a team that had scored 282 points in its previous two games.
This time, they couldn’t reach 30 in the first quarter and the Mavericks pushed out to a 38-31 lead early in the second when Josh Green and JaVale McGee had impactful minutes.
McGee had come off the bench for the first time this season as coach Jason Kidd elected to start Dwight Powell, going with a hot hand.
McGee responded with five quick points when he entered the game in the second quarter.
Twitter: @ESefko
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