Dallas Mavericks: Luka Doncic’s career night leads to first bubble win

Luka Doncic’s career night lifted the Dallas Mavericks to their first win in the NBA bubble and cemented that he’s the man to lead the way for years to come.

The Dallas Mavericks garnish their first win in the NBA bubble on the back of Luka Doncic‘s career night in a victory over the Sacramento Kings, winning in overtime 114-110.

It was the Luka Doncic show on Tuesday in the NBA bubble. Doncic recorded 34 points, 20 rebounds and 12 assists, making him the youngest player (21 years, 158 days) in NBA history to record 30+ points, 20+ rebounds and 10+ assists in a single game. Oscar Robertson (23 years, 12 days) was the previous youngest. He is now one of two players to record a game with 30+ points, 20+ rebounds and 10+ assists this season, joining Nikola Jokić of the Denver Nuggets.

Here’s the collection of highlights of Doncic’s massive game:

https://twitter.com/dallasmavs/status/1290766799978541056?s=20

Though Doncic was not alone in tonight’s win and got some key help from his teammates. Dorian Finney-Smith finished with 16 points and a career-high 16 rebounds, along with Kristaps Porzingis adding 22 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists in only 27 minutes of play. Tim Hardaway Jr., Maxi Kleber and Doncic all hit clutch baskets late in the game to help lift the Mavs in key moments in both regulation and OT.

It was looking to be one of those nights again for the Mavs, as they were in almost the exact position they were against the Houston Rockets this past Friday. After being forced into OT by the Kings, the team found themselves with another seven-point lead and 45 seconds remaining, but the Mavs turned up their defense this time around and didn’t let this one slip away.

Those tuneups began in the fourth quarter when Dallas ended regulation with seven consecutive stops, holding the Kings scoreless in the final 5:17 of regulation and had a 10-1 run in the first two minutes. That defense to end regulation trickled into the OT period and that defense turned into offense. Mavs rank in the bottom half of the league in clutch time scoring in every category, but it didn’t seem that way today, even with one of their stars, Porzingis, having fouled out late in the fourth. Dallas finally showed they can be clutch, but we’ll need to see more of it before we can believe it. The Mavs are now 2-4 in OT games this season.

Doncic knows the importance of this win and what it can mean going forward, regardless of them likely staying in the seventh seed spot going into the playoffs.

"“Chemistry between us, learning to play with each other,” Doncic said in postgame on how the Mavs can benefit from these next five games even though they are locked into the seventh seed. “Being off for four months, obviously, it wasn’t our best three games. We have to be tough on defense, that is our goal, from defense to offense.”"

It’s especially important to have that chemistry and confidence considering their next matchup is against their likely first-round opponent in the playoffs, the LA Clippers. The Dallas Mavericks still need to work on their slow starts to games, lackadaisical defense at times and inconsistent 3-point shooting.

This game was a must-win for Dallas to regain some mojo and regain confidence. Head coach Rick Carlisle took note and was proud of the way his team played in the clutch, despite previous criticisms.

"“I believe we had seven stops in a row to end regulation which was huge,” Carlisle said in the postgame. “Their collective will to win the game was as strong as I’ve seen all year. We got a lot of good wins but this was really special because we were up against it the whole night. Down 10 at the end of the first, played better in the second. Third quarter was not so great. In the fourth we had to hold them to 13 points to get to overtime. We had pretty good looks during the game. We missed a lot of open shots and then we missed some layups but everyone just kept hanging in so it was really a well-deserved win for our guys. I’m really happy for them.”"

The Dallas Mavericks will look to continue their winning ways and face the Clippers on Thursday on TNT at 6:30 PM EST.