HOUSTON — Luka Doncic waved his arms at the top of the arc.
Wide open.
In rhythm.
Ready to bury the Houston Rockets.
With 19.2 seconds remaining Friday in Toyota Center, Tim Hardaway Jr. noticed Doncic’s call for the ball and dished out of his drive to the basket, and Doncic swished the 3-pointer to extend the score to two possessions in the Mavericks’ eventual 112-106 win.
What a snarling flash to cap the second 50-point performance of his career.
Doncic finished the game with 50 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and three steals in 42 minutes to power the Mavericks’ first set of consecutive victories since Dec. 5-6 and to save his injury-riddled team from a second puzzling upset loss to the lottery-bound Rockets in two meetings this season.
While shooting 17 of 30 from the floor, 6 of 12 from 3 and 10 of 12 from the foul line, Doncic fell one point shy of his career-best scoring mark (51 points on Feb. 10 last season) and two rebounds shy of what would’ve been his seventh triple-double this season.
He’ll settle for the victory, as always.
On a night Dallas aimed to win for Christian Wood in the center’s first game in Houston post-trade, Doncic dominated the spotlight on the court and prompted more debate among fans and viewers about the lack of consistent scoring support the Mavericks have signed around him.
The game marked the first of three matchups against the Rockets in 11 days, which means Wood will continue to command attention as they reunite Dec. 29 in Dallas and back in Toyota Center on Jan 2.
The 26-year-old Wood became eligible for a contract extension Friday, the six-month mark since the Rockets traded him to the Mavericks for the No. 26 overall pick and four end-of-bench reserves.
Dallas can extend Wood’s contract by four years and $77 million from now through the start of free agency next summer, but it remains unclear how and when the negotiations will unfold — before the NBA’s February trade deadline and beyond.
Wood, playing for his seventh team in seven NBA seasons, could elect to test the open market in the offseason in hopes of leveraging a larger deal from the Mavericks or elsewhere if his role continues to expand and he steps into a co-star level role alongside Doncic.
The Mavericks, meanwhile, could include Wood’s expiring salary in a mid-season trade as one of their most marketable roster assets or wait to evaluate a full season of Wood in the team’s systems — particularly on defense in the playoffs.
But Dallas risked allowing a central player to reach free agency without an extension last season, and Jalen Brunson’s departure with no compensation from the New York Knicks still lingers as a significant loss.
The team’s present roster construction to complement Doncic remained a more focal issue Friday.
Of the Mavericks’ 30 first-quarter points, Doncic scored 14 and assisted three buckets for seven more points.
He had plenty to celebrate in the second quarter — especially a dish from two-way guard McKiney Wright IV to Theo Pinson for a 3-pointer that prompted him to leap off the bench during his rest period — as the Mavericks unleashed a 25-9 run to lead by as many as 16 points.
But come the third quarter, he needed support in return.
The Rockets outscored Dallas 34-20 in the period to erase the Mavericks’ 61-50 halftime lead in the first six minutes.
Doncic tallied 15 points, including 8 of 10 free throws, in the quarter, while the other seven Mavericks who played shot 2 of 11 from the floor for five points.
By the time Doncic reached 40 points midway through the fourth quarter — his sixth time reaching the scoring mark this season — none of the other 10 players Kidd inserted had tallied more than nine points.
Pardon the Mavericks if the exhaustion of travel from Minnesota contributed to the lag in Houston.
The team planned to fly in directly from their win Wednesday night in Minneapolis, but after overcoming an hour delay in the northern blizzard, they made it to the Houston airspace — and circled for an hour amid 3 a.m. fog before reverting to Dallas to land around 4:30 a.m.
They made a successful landing in Houston Thursday evening, Doncic most of all.
