Dallas Mavericks: Luka was the only glimmer of hope vs. Kings

The Dallas Mavericks have dropped two games in a row prior to the lengthy stretch of games against strong Western Conference playoff teams. These losses sting, but Dallas’ fearless rookie did everything he could to get the win.

Despite a hopeful schedule going into the Atlanta Hawks game last week, the Dallas Mavericks have fallen in two straight games to the Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings. These losses sting, especially considering the upcoming stretch of games, but at least the games weren’t all bad from start to finish.

The Mavs lost to the Suns in one of the uglier games of the season, scoring 89 points against a team allowing over 112 per game from their opponents. Tack that on to the fact that Devin Booker was missing for the Suns and this loss goes from bad to embarrassing. There are still plenty of talented players on the Suns team, but they had no business outplaying the Mavericks the way they did.

Dallas was led in scoring by Harrison Barnes with 15, however Luka Doncic and DeAndre Jordan each had more impressive games. Luka ended with 13 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and a steal, while DJ snagged yet another double-double with 14 points and 15 rebounds. Jalen Brunson and Wes Matthews both ended in double-digits as well, with 13 and 11, respectively.

Sadly, Dallas couldn’t find an answer for T.J. Warren, who scored a season high 30 points per game. He is capable of scoring in bunches, but the Suns did not have another major offensive weapon which the Mavericks should have realized.

Anyways, on to the Sacramento game.

The Sacramento Kings have been a very respectable team so far this year, running out to a 16-14 record, just outside of the playoffs currently. Even though they have proved several doubters wrong to this point, there is still no doubt that the Mavs were the favorites in the game this past weekend.

The Kings were fired up early and grabbed a lead from Dallas right out of the gate. They held that lead for a vast majority of the game and never let Dallas get within striking position as the game rolled to an end. Despite another crushing loss for Dallas, there were some more bright spots in this one than there were in the Phoenix game. Luka Doncic was the big one.

Luka ended the game with 28 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds. His shooting percentages were .600/.200/.643. Doncic struggled at the free throw line, making only 9-14, and he couldn’t find the bottom of the net from distance, but with a smaller guard in De’Aaron Fox guarding Luka, he elected to attack the rim early and as often as possible. It resulted in a very efficient shooting night.

This was one of the better individual performances we have seen from Luka, who is less than 30 games into his NBA career. It really has been an impressive year for the youngster from Slovenia and we can expect to see even more from him as the season goes on. For now, let’s just enjoy the great games we have gotten so far.