Luka Doncic’s season-high 44-point performance carried the Dallas Mavericks past the Orlando Magic in a challenging, adversity-ridden 114-105 victory at American Airlines Center.
Doncic scored 30 of his points in the first half as the Mavericks rebounded from a collapse to the Oklahoma City Thunder a night earlier.
Dallas was clearly feeling the effects of the disappointing loss to the Thunder less than 24 hours earlier, where Oklahoma City erased a 16-point deficit in the final four minutes of regulation to force overtime and then pulled away in the extra period for a 117-111 victory.
Doncic blamed himself for the collapse against the Thunder and played a fantastic game on Sunday. He finished 17-of-26 from the field for his second 40-point game in the past three games while adding five assists and three rebounds.
“You could tell he was going to be ready to go,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “He came out and set the tone.”
Doncic has now scored 30 or more points in each of the first six games, the first player to do that since Michael Jordan in 1986. Doncic’s season scoring average is now a league-leading 36.6 points per game.
The victory was far from easy as the Magic exploded out of the gate for 34 points in the first quarter, while the Mavericks looked sluggish, trailing 19-9 early.
“We’re starting to get into this trend of giving up a big first quarter that we got to address,” coach Kidd said. “Looking at the scores around the league, there’s a lot of points being scored, so if you’re not comfortable getting into the 115s, 120, you’re probably going to be in trouble.
“So, until we can become connected on the defensive end, we’re just going to have to ride our offense a little bit here.”
Dallas trailed for most of the first half as the defense struggled, but its offense kept them within striking distance, rallying to take a 60-60 tie into halftime.
“We knew we were on the second night of a back-to-back, so our legs were running in quicksand a little as per usual for any team in this league,” said Dallas guard Tim Hardaway Jr., who had a season-high 21 points off the bench. “We knew if we could get to the second half and have it within arm’s length, we’d be able to get our legs under us and try to push the pace.”
The game remained tight until late in the third quarter when Dallas’ second unit gave the Mavericks a lead to start the fourth quarter for the fifth time in the first six games.
Dallas pulled away early in the fourth, as a Christian Wood layup followed by a Hardaway three-pointer as part of a 25-8 run put the Mavericks up 93-83.
The Magic closed their deficit to four with 55 seconds remaining as it appeared Dallas was headed for a collapse again.
However, this time, Dallas did not blow the double-digit lead as they have done twice this season. It started with the lost 22-point lead in the opener at Phoenix, including a 10-point cushion in the final 5:51 and the blown 16-point advantage against Oklahoma City.
Hardaway helped the Mavericks avoid the collapse as he scored 12 of his 21 in the final period, while Doncic hit a couple of shots down the stretch and a clutch Dorian Finney-Smith three-pointer with under a minute remaining served as the final dagger.
“We’re doing a lot of things good, but we just have to be able to finish,” Kidd said, speaking of the two losses that resulted from blown double-digit leads. “And that happens. You’d rather have that happen now than Game 79 or 80 if you’re going into the playoffs. Because there will be a doubt and it would be like the trust would be lost.”
For Orlando, their record now sits at 1-6. Dallas held the Magic’s rookie No.1 overall pick, Paolo Banchero, to 18 points, the first time this season the top pick in the draft has failed to reach 20.
Banchero’s six-game streak of 20-plus point games was tied for the third-longest to begin a career.
The Mavericks now sit at 3-3, but all three losses came by a combined total of ten points.
“It’s a bounce-back game. It’s early on in the season, but we just have to make sure we’re ready,” Dallas reserve guard Josh Green said. “There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be 6-0. For us, this is a learning curve, and I’m just happy we bounced back.”
