SAN ANTONIO – Coach Gregg Popovich knew he was handing reporters a post-Christmas gift-of-a-headline when he said a few days ago: “We’re going to hold Luka under 50. Quote it.”
The San Antonio coach revisited that prediction before the New Year’s Eve meeting between his Spurs and the Mavericks and Luka Dončić.
“I said that, didn’t I? The next day he got 60. Or two days later,” Popovich said pregame. “Unbelievable, this guy.”
And unbelievable is exactly what the Mavericks needed on New Year’s Eve.
Luka got his 50 points against the Spurs. Actually, 51.
And his two free throws with 4.5 seconds left secured the Mavericks’ 126-125 victory over the Spurs at AT&T Center. But it required an exhausting effort and they had to survive another crazy finish.
So did Luka know about Popovich’s claim that he wouldn’t get 50?
“Yeah, I saw,” Dončić said. “I just wanted to get a win.”
But, 51 points feels good, right?
“Yeah, of course,” he said. “It’s not bad.”
And it’s becoming the norm, not the exception. He’s had 50 or more in three of the last five games and has had seven 40-plus games this season.
It’s almost as if Dončić is pulling the Mavericks along with him as they work through a slew of injuries and try to build momentum as the season progresses.
“He’s doing that, no matter if we need that or not,” coach Jasson Kidd said. “Everyone else has to do their part when he’s not in the game. And that’s where we have to get better.
“We’re a little bit on the injured side right now, but we got to get a little bit more from our bench. But our bench is being covered by Luka. We can’t expect him to have 50 every night.”
But it’s nice to know it can happen once in a while.
“It keeps the streak going and we keep the excitement at a high for sure late in the game,” Kidd said. “A couple mistakes we can clean up. But it’s not easy to win here. Luka was incredible. He bails us out again.”
The intentionally missed free throw play was a major factor again and this time it almost worked against the Mavericks instead of for them.
The Spurs had a chance to take the lead in the waning seconds but a layup try by Jeremy Sochan was off the mark and then Luka was fouled.
After he made the free throws, the Spurs had their final possession, the Mavericks fouled they could hoist a three-pointer. Tre Jones made the first free throw. His intentional miss of the second free throw was just as fortuitous as Luka’s intentional miss earlier in the week against New York. He got the rebound and was fouled. But he made only the first free throw, and Luka grabbed the rebound of the second.
He missed his final two free throws, the second on purpose, to close it out as the Spurs had no free throws left to advance the ball.
The Mavericks had their sixth consecutive win and moved into fourth place in the Western Conference at 21-16.
The Spurs fell to 12-24.
Dončić was well on his way to cracking 50 points for the third time in the last five games. He had 30 points by halftime.
As Kidd said before the game: “When someone’s going the way he’s going, it’s like a pitcher with a no-hitter. You try to stay out of the way.”
Afterward, it was a time to exhale.
And reflect on another magical Luka night that started with Popovich’s assertion that the Spurs would keep him below 50 points.
“I heard that,” Kidd said. “The way it was going, it looked like Luka was going to have 70. But I think Pop will be happy he held him to 51. He was only off by one point.”
The Mavericks stayed out of Luka’s way enough to get him going early and while they were stuck on equal footing with the Spurs throughout the first half, they nudged ahead in the third quarter, taking a 93-76 advantage.
But Popovich teams aren’t wired to mail it in when the score turns bad.
The Spurs made inroads, closing to within a point on several occasions. And each time, Luka responded, first with a layup, then a bank shot as the Mavericks refused to surrender the lead.
When Christian Wood, who had 25 points, hit a three-pointer, the Mavs had a 119-113 lead.
That also gave Luka nine assists. To say the least, the show Dončić continues to put on is something that everybody is enjoying.
“He’s just a beautiful basketball player,” Popovich said. “The prototype – high basketball IQ, high skill level all rolled into one guy. He’s very special.
“We do the same thing (defensively) that everybody else has tried. And nothing works. So you hope he doesn’t make shots that night.”
Injury update: Josh Green is doing all the non-contact work that he can, but has yet to begin contact drills as he recovers from a sprained right elbow.
“He’s doing non-contact workouts at a very high level,” Kidd said. “The next step will be contact once his symptoms allow him to do that.”
Maxi Kleber (hamstring) and Dorian Finney-Smith (adductor) also were out against the Spurs.
Dončić also showed up on the injury report with left ankle soreness. But he was cleared to play against the Spurs.
“He’s sore,” Kidd said. “He’s played a couple minutes. He’s doing a lot. So he’s sore. So that’s why he’s on the report. His ankle’s sore.”
Luka has played more than 39 minutes in three of the last four games, playing 34 in the last one against Houston.
Teaching the young-uns: When the calendar turned to November, the San Antonio Spurs were 5-2.
Now that it is turning to 2023, they are 12-24.
Popovich said his team is going through some of the same issues that most young, rebuilding teams experience.
“They are playing well. They are not consistent,” he said. “We’ve had those youthful fourth quarter problems at both ends of the court from time to time. But they don’t lack the aggressiveness and the will to play hard and to basically never die. They are a fun group to be around because they have that effort level all the time.
“But youth kicks in in fourth quarters for everybody. Having some success is the only way to get over that. You can practice all you want or talk all you want but unless you are under the lights having a good fourth quarter, that’s when you build that confidence and they become more mature and you look like a Dallas.”
Twitter: @ESefko
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