Despite the best efforts of the San Antonio Spurs on New Year’s Eve, the Dallas’ Mavericks win streak will live to see a new year, thanks to another 50-point showing and smart basketball from Luka Doncic.
Doncic scored 51 points, his third 50-plus point game of the season, all of them coming in the last eight days, and Coach Jason Kidd’s bunch was able to hold off San Antonio’s fourth quarter comeback and secure a win by the slimmest of margins, 126-125. And they might not have been able to do it without not only the scoring, but the instincts of Doncic down the stretch.
Just days ago it was a missed free throw and rebound by Doncic for a put-back that sent a game to overtime. This time, with just a second on the clock and the lead at a slim one, Doncic missed both his tries from the stripe and grabbed the rebound to put the game on ice.
The victory extends the Mavs’ win streak to a season-high six games.
“Another one that keeps the streak going. We keep the excitement, for sure, at a high there, late in the game. A couple mistakes that we can cleanup, but it’s not easy to win here,” Coach Kidd said. “Luke was incredible. He bails us out again, by missing the free throws so that they didn’t have time to set up a play. But we have to be better at executing late.”
The Mavs took an eight-point lead into the fourth, and had it up as high as 12, but couldn’t put it out of reach as San Antonio clawed to within one in the closing minutes. The Spurs had the ball with a chance to take the lead with five seconds left but missed a layup that would have put them in front. Doncic made two free throws to put Dallas up three, and the Mavs opted to foul.
But when San Antonio’s Tre Jones missed his second free throw and then drew a loose ball foul on the rebound, the Spurs had a chance to tie. Jones made his first to bring the Spurs within one, but again missed the second, and Doncic grabbed the rebound and was fouled. A pair of free throws would’ve made it still a one possession game, but after missing the first, Luka opted to put an end to it by throwing the second free throw off the rim at an angle that had it go right back to him allowing him to dribble out the remaining second.
In addition to the 51 points on a scintillating 18-of-29 from the field, Luka pitched in nine assists, six rebounds and a season-best four steals. He scored 22 of his 51 in the first quarter, had 30 at halftime and then made the right plays down the stretch to finish off the win. The fifth year star continues to operate at an MVP level, carrying Dallas on his back, something Coach Kidd doesn’t believe is completely sustainable.
“He’s doing it no matter if we need it or not, he’s doing it. Everyone else has to do their part when he’s not in the game and that’s where we have to get better,” Jason said. ” We can’t expect him to have 50 every night. He got going there in the first half and then we took control of the game, and then we just kind of relaxed a little bit there…we needed every point and then the last play there, to come up with a big rebound on [their] missed free throw and then to miss the free throw so they couldn’t get a shot, was big.”
Dallas (21-16) finishes the 2022 calendar year five games over .500 for the first time all season. They’ll look to extend their win-streak to seven on Monday night when they finish their tour of Texas with a trip to Houston to take on the Rockets.