Mavs Doncic and Curry Take Down Lakers in First NBA Bubble Scrimmage
The Dallas Mavericks played the Los Angeles Lakers in a scrimmage on Thursday night, in what was both teams' first competitive action against another team since the NBA suspended its season in March. Although this was just considered a "warmup" game, the stars did not disappoint in their limited minutes, as the Mavs went on to beat the Lakers, 108-104.
"I thought overall there were a lot of good things," said head coach Rick Carlisle afterward. "A lot of turnovers, and we fouled a lot (though). Those two areas we will look to improve going into the next game against Indiana."
In just 16 minutes, second-year superstar Luka Doncic picked up right where he left off before the long layoff, putting in 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting with six assists and five rebounds. He left with a limp but seems to be fine.
And no, it didn't take Doncic long at all to break out his go-to step-back three either.
Kristaps Porzingis, despite having foul trouble throughout the first half, looked great as well, scoring 8 points on 3-of-6 from the field to go with two rebounds, one assist and one block in 15 minutes of action. Like Doncic, it didn't take Porzingis long to have a signature moment, as he finished a lob from Doncic with a strong dunk, plus the foul.
Although the Mavs' two superstars looked to be in mid-season form already, the biggest star for Dallas on this night was Seth Curry, who torched the Lakers' defense with 23 points on a perfect 8-for-8 shooting night (6-for-6 from deep) in just 15 minutes. For whatever reasons, Curry explodes when he plays on a neutral court. When the Mavs played the Detroit Pistons in Mexico City earlier this season, Curry scored 30 points on 11-of-15 shooting. If that trend can continue when the real games start next week, the Mavs are going to make a lot of noise heading into the postseason.
"I was getting good shots," said Curry after his big night. "Nothing too crazy. Guys were finding me, setting good screens. The background is a good sight line from pretty much every angle, and it's not too deep of a depth perception, so that felt good."
For the Lakers, their two superstars didn't seem to have a lot of rust on them, either. LeBron James put in 12 points, five assists and three rebounds in 14 minutes, while Anthony Davis scored 12 points of his own in 15 minutes to go with two steals.
Next, the Mavs will play the Indiana Pacers on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. on NBA TV (and Mavs.com), then they'll finish up this scrimmage schedule on Tuesday night against the Philadelphia 76ers at 7:30 p.m. on FSSW.
