Every so often, Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic does something that makes you shake your head, which was the case on Friday night in the team’s home opener against the Brooklyn Nets.
Late in the fourth, with the game tied at 120 and the shot clock running down, Doncic made a hook shot three-pointer that banked off the glass and in! Ultimately, Dallas would defeat the Nets(0-2) 125-120.
This is Dallas’ first 2-0 start since the 2019-20 season.
Doncic had a game-high 49 points (16-25 FG, 9-14 3FG, 8-10 FT), 10 rebounds and seven assists, including 14 points in the fourth quarter. His nine 3-pointers mark a new career-high from behind the arc, but the talk after the game was his game-winning shot.
“I’m just glad I didn’t call a timeout when I wanted to,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. “We probably wouldn’t be sitting here. That’s a Luka [Dončić] special. He likes the ball late, he loves those situations, and he finds a way. The thing about Luka, he practices a lot of crazy shots. Sometimes they get caught on camera. Sometimes, it’s just the human eye that catches them. Tonight was one of those shots.”
Kyrie Irving, who faced his former team for the first time since the trade and had 17 points, seven rebounds, and six assists on Friday, was impressed by Doncic.
“There was a lot of magic in the air, man,” Irving said. “That shot was crazy. I was going in to crash the offensive glass, and I was like, ‘Man, this has a chance.’ I was just following it, and what a night for Luka (Doncic), what a night for our team.”
Doncic explained what he saw on the game-winning shot.
“I saw there were two or three seconds left [on the shot clock] and just knew I had to put it up and touch the rim so that we would have a chance of reloading [the clock],” he said.
According to Doncic, the shot felt good when it left his hands.
“Yes, actually,” Doncic said about the shot. “It was feeling good. I promise.”
When asked if this was the toughest shot he’s made in a game, Doncic said the following:
“It was probably this one,” he said. “I don’t know what I did. Against Portland is a consideration, but I think this one was tougher. I think it was a little bit of a hook shot.”
Dallas returns to action on Monday night when they travel to Memphis to play the Grizzlies.
Notes:
Doncic’s 49 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists mark his 14th game with 40-plus points, 10-plus rebounds and seven-plus assists, tying Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for seventh all-time in NBA history for most games with that stat line.
Brooklyn’s Cam Thomas finished today’s game with a team-high 30 points as well as seven rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block. His 30-point effort marks his second consecutive 30-plus point game and the second time in his career he has recorded consecutive 30-plus point games. His seven rebounds tie the second highest of his career.
In their return to Dallas, Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith recorded 23 points (8-17 FG, 6-12 3FG, 1-2 FT), three rebounds, eight assists, and 12 points (4-8 FG, 4-7 3FG), seven rebounds and three assists, respectively. Dinwiddie’s six 3-pointers ties for the third-most 3-pointers made in a game in his career.
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