'Headband Luka Doncic' Leads Dallas Mavs' 50-Point Win vs. Utah Jazz; 3 Unsung Heroes
Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic is officially on a tear following the birth of his daughter last week. After missing one game on Friday against the Memphis Grizzlies, Doncic returned on Saturday to face the Oklahoma City Thunder, putting up 36 points, 15 rebounds and 18 assists in a near-miracle comeback attempt.
After three days of rest, Doncic followed up that masterful performance by putting up yet another triple-double in the Mavs' 147-97 walloping of the injury-plagued Utah Jazz on Wednesday. He finished with 40 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists in 32 minutes while shooting 14-25 overall and 6-12 from deep.
With his second consecutive triple-double, Doncic passed Larry Bird for ninth on the all-time list after tying him just four days ago. He's now just 14 triple-doubles away from catching James Harden for eighth on the list.
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"I think Luka's had a lot of fun this season on both sides of the ball," Mavs head coach Jason Kidd said after the game. "He's competing at a high level. He's having fun. You can see the energy was extremely high. When you look at the game before [versus] Oklahoma City, he played 46 minutes, and he was still ready to go. It just shows his conditioning and where his mind is right now -- it's to win. He's doing everything to put the team in that position to win on a nightly basis."
On the latest episode of our Mavs Step Back Podcast, my DallasBasketball.com colleague Grant Afseth joins me live from American Airlines Center immediately following the Mavs' win over the Jazz to discuss the performance we witnessed from Doncic.
From there, we also talk about Kyrie Irving putting up a quiet 26 points in 27 minutes while shooting 11-16 from the field. He also dished out four assists and recorded three steals as well. Irving was one unsung hero of the game, and the other two, at least in our opinions, were Dante Exum, who got the start with Grant Williams out, and rookie forward Olivier-Maxence Prosper.
Exum, despite shooting just 2-9 from the field, finished with five points, six rebounds, seven assists and two steals while being a team-best +40 on the night. Prosper, although still raw offensively, was rock solid on defense and finished with six points, five rebounds and two assists while being a +17 in just 21 minutes off the bench.
"His basketball IQ is extremely high. He knows how to play," Kidd said of Exum. "He's not judged on scoring. He's judged on doing the right things on both sides of the floor and that's what he does for us. When he came in the league as a lottery pick, unfortunately, health and injuries sometimes are setbacks. But for him, his basketball IQ has never been taken from him. He plays the game the right way and we're lucky to have him."
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