Tuesday Donuts: Mavs Spurs Quoteboard and Luka's 40-Point Triple-Double
DONUT 1: THE BEAST “From what (PR boss) Scott (Tomlin) just told me, Luka is only the second guy under the age of 21 to have a 40-point triple-double, along with Lebron James, which is pretty special. He was phenomenal all night long.” - Coach Rick Carlisle on Doncic’s 42-point/11-rebound-12-assist line in the Dallas Mavericks’ 117-110 win over San Antonio on Monday at the AAC. (Game story here.)
DONUT 2: SO MANY NUMBERS "I mean it’s great, but you know, it feels like every time there are stats you don’t know about. It’s great to hit.” - Luka Doncic on his boxscore-filling phenomenon ... (Video courtesy Taimon R. Turner at Dallas Fanatic.)
And it’s true that he records so many new and grand numbers on a nightly basis that he can barely keep track of them.
DONUT 3: DOE-DOE “Finney-Smith had a really huge game. The effort that goes into guarding a guy like (DeMar) DeRozan, and plus, being able to put up 22 points and then the shot he hit at the shot clock buzzer at the end of the fourth quarter was a decisive shot. Congratulations to him. “ - Carlisle on Dorian Finney-Smith.
And DFS's own words ...
DONUT 4: LUKA SPEAKS, YOU LISTEN “He’s one of the main guys that always is telling me to shoot. We shoot together a lot and he knows I can shoot, so he always just tells me to keep shooting. It feels good knowing that he trusts me. He’s a great facilitator.” - DFS on Luka's advice.
DONUT 5: KP ON LUKA "He's doing it all for us.'' - Kristaps Porzingis, who did OK himself with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
More KP above.
DONUT 6: POP ON KP “He’s a wonderful athlete, wonderful player, smart, he’s got it all. He’s a good one.” - Spurs coach Gregg Popovich on Kristaps Porzingis.
DONUT 7: UPS AND DOWNS “These kinds of things are good for us. They test us and they keep us on a steady learning curve, that I believe is trending upward.” - Carlisle on some ups and downs for his 8-5 Mavs.
DONUT 8: ON THE OTHER HAND “Obviously we can be even better than 8-5. We had some games we should have won, but we could be worse too, so I’ll take that. We just keep rising every day.” - Dorian Finney-Smith
DONUT 9: DEMAR'S 36 “We don’t have a choice (but to bounce back). When adversity hits, you can’t let it get you down. Can’t let it frustrate you. Nobody wants to lose. We have to channel that energy and put it in the right place. To do so, we have to understand you have to be desperate to win.” - DeMar DeRozan, who did score 36 points for the Spurs in the loss.
DONUT 10: BENCH MOB TALK “I just feel like we’re deep. Any given night, it could be Seth (Curry) with a 20-point game or it could be Tim (Hardaway Jr.) or (Delon) Wright. It’s just a deep team. If we get a couple more stops, I feel like we could play with anybody.” - Finney-Smith.
DONUT 11: SURPRISING? “It is not surprising to me. This guy can do anything he wants to on a basketball court. He is having one of those magical runs right now. It is a phenomenal thing to watch and a phenomenal thing to be a part of. His teammates and I were all just along for the ride here.” - Carlisle on Luka.
DONUT 12: THE FINAL WORD "In the big picture, this is an awful lot to ask of a young guy, let’s be honest. It is hard to fathom how much that kind of production takes out of you in an NBA game. It is a lot emotionally. It’s a lot of weight to carry, and as we move along, finding balance to help Luka with the load is an important thing, and I am looking at that all the time.” Coach Rick Carlisle.
