Luka Doncic's 44 Points Leads Mavs in Bounce-Back Win Over Magic
The Dallas Mavericks entered Sunday's matchup against the Orlando Magic after a 117-110 overtime loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder after holding a 16-point lead midway through the fourth quarter. The Mavs took care of business on Sunday by defeating the Magic 114-105.
The Mavs established another fourth-quarter double-digit lead against the Magic and had the challenge of maintaining it Orlando brought it within single digits down the stretch, but Dallas ultimately held on to win.
Doncic scored 30 points of his 44 points in the first half alone, marking his seventh consecutive performance reaching the 30-point threshold. Meeting that mark has set a new franchise record for the most consecutive 30-point performances. Doncic also became the first player since Michael Jordan in 1986 to score 30 points in each of their team's first six games of a season and is only the sixth player all-time to do it.
“I don't think I need to," Doncic said when asked if he feels he has to score 30 on a nightly basis to win. "Some nights, I’m going to get doubled every time and somebody else is going to be open all game. There are different teams and different coverages. I don’t feel like I need to score 30 every night. We have capable players of scoring that too. So, I think it's not going to be every night because some teams are going to double and some teams don’t.”
It was a common approach for Doncic to operate with his back to the basket and hunt mismatches in the process. He was aggressive in attacking the lane on drives, too. The results were strong as he shot 15-17 on two-point field goals. He did so while recording five assists and no turnovers.
It was another subpar perimeter shooting night from the Mavs as they finished 11-35 from deep. Dallas did receive timely makes down the stretch from their supporting cast talents, with Dorian Finney-Smith and Tim Hardaway Jr. contributing important makes from deep.
In addition to Doncic's 44 points, the Mavs received double-figure scoring performances from Hardaway (21), Finney-Smith (13), and Spencer Dinwiddie (12). While overall efficiency wasn't ideal, Dinwiddie was instrumental in attacking the rim in key moments while Hardaway and Finney-Smith knocked down timely 3-pointers.
“I think that’s one of the things opponents could take the philosophy of: let him score, or let him wear himself out and keep everyone else down," Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. "I think being able to see it more and more, I think guys are getting comfortable and understanding what they have to do. I brought it up earlier – I thought Spencer [Dinwiddie] did an incredible job of attacking, Timmy [Hardaway Jr.] attacking [and] getting to the basket – but also, we knocked down some threes a little bit different than last night.”
The Magic had six player score in double-figures, but didn't have a strong standout performance to set the tone. Paolo Banchero led with 18 points — failing to reach the 20-point threshold for the first time in his NBA career.
Mavs coach Jason Kidd continued to experiment with lineup combinations. Dwight Powell received playing time for the second consecutive game with JaVale McGee back in the lineup after being sidelined for a game for rest.
“Strong," Kidd said when asked on his commitment to McGee as the starting center. "When you look at the rotation today, we’ll give him a chance. He’s going to play. He’s going to get into the swing of things, and we believe in him. He’s going to start. You saw tonight we can play DP, and C-Wood, and Maxi. We’ll look at that combination, but we believe in JaVale, and he’ll be better.”
There is a significant style difference between the Mavs' two opponents during this back-to-back. With Chet Holmgren sidelined, the Thunder do not deploy a traditional big man altogether. On the other hand, the Magic often throw out oversized lineups. Dallas struggled to contain Oklahoma City's quicker unit led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but did fare better against the Magic.
The Mavs return to action on Wednesday when they take on the Utah Jazz in what will be Game 3 of a five-game homsetand.
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