DALLAS — In a season that already has been long on individual achievements but short on team victories, Luka Doncic had a 35-10-10 night on his scorecard with eight minutes to play. And this time, lo and behold, the team came right along with him to hold its breath on Klay Thompson’s 3-point attempt at the buzzer (it missed) and defeat the Golden State Warriors, 116-113, at American Airlines Center.
Any win is good, and any victory over the defending NBA champs should be something to cherish. There’s an unusual need to be careful with that last part since the loss dropped the Warriors to 2-10 on the road this season. In fact, the only team in the West with a worse record away from home is (oops) the Mavericks at 1-7.
”That’s the world champs,’’ coach Jason Kidd said. “No matter how they’re playing, you’ve gotta bring your A game against them. We’ll see what happens when we go to Detroit and New York.’’
Doncic was able to pad his NBA scoring lead on Steph Curry by outscoring the reigning NBA Finals MVP, 41-32. But Luka’s numbers have been otherworldly all season, a fact that has not translated into any real level of success for Dallas.
At 10-10, the Mavericks have been on their way to becoming the thing that they fear. And that’s Portland in 2019 or Denver in 2020 — teams that made surprising runs to the Western Conference finals, probably thinking this was simply the first step in a championship journey. The Blazers and Nuggets basically haven’t been heard from in the postseason since (although their current squads are ahead of Dallas in the standings and perhaps restoring hope among their fan bases).
When the Mavericks knocked off Phoenix in such decisive fashion in Games 6 and 7 last spring, it not only seemed that Dallas was on its way somewhere big and important but also that the Suns had sustained some sort of franchise-shifting eclipse.
Naturally, it’s Phoenix that is on top of the Western Conference standings again, while the Mavericks will have to keep winning just to work their way into a playoff spot.
You know about Kemba Walker coming to town to try to replace Jalen Brunson — or at least a small part of what Brunson meant to the team last year, which was considerable and second in importance only to Luka. Surely the four-time Eastern Conference All Star will look more natural bringing the ball up the floor than Josh Green, who played well Tuesday even while out of position. Then again Walker’s last game was a 21-minute effort for the Knicks on Feb. 16, so you might want to minimize those immediate hopes.
The Mavs had to call on extra duty from Doncic on Tuesday night after Spencer Dinwiddie was ejected on a Flagrant-2 foul, his elbow to the jaw sending Jordan Poole to the floor. Dallas tried to play another minute without Doncic or Dinwiddie on the floor, and that proved virtually impossible. In fact, in the nine minutes that Luka sat Tuesday, the Warriors — mostly their bench — outscored the Mavericks, 29-10.
”He’s one of the best in the world,’’ Kidd said. “That’s what he does. He’s marked once he pulls up in his car.’’
The Mavericks’ real task is unchanged in Year Five of the Luka Era and that is to find appropriate pieces that fit around their superstar, not only those that provide him with 3-point targets but the right blend of defenders and rebounders. That’s why the most important thing Kidd said Tuesday was in his answer to whether facing Golden State could serve as a positive reminder of how far this team traveled in the playoffs last May.
”This is a different team. This is not last year’s team,’’ Kidd said.
In his mind, it’s a team that has struggled to win close games although Tuesday’s victory made Dallas 7-4 in games decided by five points or fewer. It may seem like the team is deficient in that area because of the recent road trip, but that’s really not the story of the first 20 games.
Mostly, it has been a team that shoots 3-pointers at one of the highest volumes in the league but ranks 20th in success rate. That really didn’t change Tuesday as Dallas hit 34% of its long-range shots, but Golden State — which generally ranks close to the top thanks to Curry’s 43% career total — made 11 of 43 3s (25.6%).
Chalk it up to a little defense and a lot of good fortune. Thompson was about as open as he ever needs to be for the potential game-tying shot at the buzzer, but this is not his season and this was not his night (1 for 6 on 3-pointers).
It’s a 10-10 team with the talent to be more but absolutely no guarantee that’s going to happen. As Kidd said, we’ll see.
