Luka Doncic looked pretty good in his return after ankle injury suffered in a game against the Miami Heat.
He didn’t look much worse for wear against the San Antonio Spurs, showing off his array of skills and outfoxing defenders almost at will. His court vision was on full display, and he was always aware of the open man for easy shots. Doncic wasn’t afraid to drive to the basket and accelerate either.
The only thing that was off about his night was his shooting, going 9 of 23 from the field and 1 of 6 from beyond the arc. That didn’t hurt his team much though, since he found other ways to be effective and keep his teammates involved.
It was a great sight for the Mavs, who weathered the storm during his absence and had strong showings against the best teams in the East.
They beat both the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers in tough road games. They narrowly lost to the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics, and inexplicably blew a 30-point lead against the Toronto Raptors.
It was heartening to see the good performances, but there is absolutely no doubt that Dallas is a better team with their Slovenian superstar on the floor.
He was the catalyst on multiple offensive possessions that led to open shots. His driving kept drawing multiple defenders, allowing him to kick out to teammates who would either make the shot or make the extra pass to another open man left open by help defenders.
The good play that the Mavericks exhibited while Doncic was gone continued. With Luka on the bench to start the fourth quarter, they used unselfish ball movement that consistently found open three pointers that punished the Spurs.
Kristaps Porzingis was relatively quiet in the first three quarters but came to life in the final period. He made back-to-back threes and did a good job of moving the ball around that kicked off his team’s big run. They made six straight threes to pad their lead to 15 points.
Doncic didn’t return to the floor until there was only 4:35 left in the game.
Judging from this game, Doncic may actually view his injury as a blessing in disguise. It allowed his teammates to find confidence in themselves. There is a clear cohesion and team-first mentality that will be important in a playoff run.
Doncic finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds, and 8 assists. Porzingis had 13 points and 8 rebounds, while Tim Hardaway Jr. put up 17 points and. Three other Mavericks scored in double digits.
The Mavs still need to figure out a few things, though. With both Porzingis and Doncic on the floor, they allowed the Spurs to go on a 13-0 run that cut the deficit to 102-98 with 38.6 seconds left. That scoreline held until the buzzer but you don’t want late game runs from your opponent to become a regular occurence.
OTHER GAMES
The Knicks embarrassed the Nets at Barclay’s center. Julius Randle (33 PTS, 8 REB, 2 AST) led the way.
Blake Griffin (14 PTS, 11 REB, 4 AST) and Andre Drummond (14 PTS, 10 REB) led a balanced team effort in the Pistons’ 132-102 route of the Wizards. Eight Pistons players scored in double digits.
Jaren Jackson Jr. (20 PTS, 4 REB, 4 AST) helped the Grizzlies drop the Thunder 110-97.
