When Luka Doncic is playing the type of assertive basketball he was on Wednesday, head coach Jason Kidd is confident that his team can win any game against any team.
Spearheaded by the efforts of their superstar, who dropped a season-high of 41 points on an efficient 13-for-24 shooting, Dallas got its fourth straight win with a 102-98 victory over the Toronto Raptors at American Airlines Center.
In addition to Doncic’s best night of the season, the Mavs got great play from forward Kristaps Porzingis and guard Tim Hardaway Jr. Porzingis scored 18 points and Hardaway added 16 off the bench on an efficient 7-of-10 from the field. But the night belonged to Doncic, who also grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds and dished out seven assists.
“He did a great job from start to finish,” Head Coach Jason Kidd said. “He was aggressive, he got to the paint, he got to the free-throw line, and he made some big threes for us.”
The first quarter was a back-and-forth affair, with neither team gaining much separation. In a game that saw a total of 22 lead changes and seven ties, the lead changed hands nine times in the first four-and-a-half-minutes of action. The first points of the evening for the Mavericks came from a Porzingis post-up play, and he and Doncic combined to score or assist on each of Dallas’ first seven buckets, including a beautiful no-look lob from Luka to forward Dorian Finney-Smith that put Dallas in front 13-10. However that was Dallas’ last lead of the opening frame and they trailed by four, 31-27 after one.
Luka looked to get the Mavericks back on track in the second, scoring 14 points on 5-of-8 from the field. After Toronto had pushed their lead to eight, Doncic scored the next six points of the game, including a Dirk-leg fade-away from the left elbow that cut the score to 39-35 with 9:06 to go in the half. A few minutes later, he once again found Finney-Smith at the rim for a bucket that tied the game. Chris Boucher answered with a three for Toronto, but moments later, with guard Jalen Brunson leaking ahead of the pack, he executed a simple give and go with Luka finishing the play to give the Mavericks the lead at 45-44 with a little over four minutes left in the second.
From there, the lead changed hands seven more times before the break. Late in the quarter, Porzingis got into rhythm again, scoring eight straight Dallas points, twice tying the game and twice more giving the Mavericks the lead. KP found success with the left shoulder turnaround post-up, and after a high pick-and-roll with Luka, the big man found an opening in the key, connecting on a midrange jumper to put Dallas ahead 53-52. After a dunk from Boucher put Toronto back ahead, Doncic buried a mid-range shot with 50 seconds left in the half that proved to be the final score of the half, giving Dallas a 55-54 lead at the break.
“We talked about it before the game, they’re playing at a high level,” Kidd said of the Raptors’ pesky play. “They’re top five in deflections, steals, and they cause a problem.”
Both teams came out firing in the second half, and the first 1:18 of the third saw four more lead changes. Down 61-59, the Mavericks moved the ball from inside-out, which resulted in a Finney-Smith corner three that got the back at 62-61. After Toronto tied it at 67-67, Luka received a screen from Powell on the left wing, executed a right-to-left crossover to beat his defender, and finished with contact. he nailed the free throw as well to put Dallas up 70-67. That play jump-started a 9-0 Dallas run and Brunson put on the exclamation point with
a nifty spin-move to get to the bucket and increase the Mavericks lead to 76-67.
Dallas then closed the third in style, when Josh Green drilled a three off a feed from Hardaway to give the home team a seven-point advantage heading into the fourth.
In winning time, it was all Luka for the Mavericks. The fourth year guard played all 12 minutes of the fourth as the Mavs continued to fend off each surge Toronto sent their way. On one particular possession Doncic found himself double-teamed, and was forced to double-clutch a pass in the air. But before he came down, he found forward Reggie Bullock wide open in the right corner for a three that doubled the Mavericks lead to six, 93-87, with five minutes to go in the fourth.
“He also accepted the double-team and trusted his teammates when he let go of the ball, so he was great tonight,” Kidd said of Luka’s performance. “Reggie made a big shot.”
Still, Toronto kept coming, and briefly took the lead back, 96-95 with under two minutes to play. But Doncic would not be denied.
On the ensuing possession, Luka called for an isolation at the top of the key. After a flurry of crossovers, he finished a lefty scoop, which gave the Mavericks a 97-96 lead with 1:42 remaining in the fourth. Then on the next possession after a Toronto miss, he all but sealed the deal when he drained a 26-footer while executing his signature step-back move, giving the Mavs a 100-96 lead.
Toronto had one more chance, after a Fred Van Vleet bucket cut the scorer to 100-98, but after a timeout, Tim Hardaway made a clutch play on the ensuing inbound pass, getting the ball to Porzingis, who was fouled and sank his free throws with five seconds left, giving the Mavs a four-point lead that they held to the buzzer.
Though they would prefer to win with a little more space, as they had been prior to these last two outings, Coach Kidd knows these close regular-season wins will prepare his squad for the playoffs, as the team continues to build its chemistry and identity.