Dallas Mavericks: Luka Doncic nets 32 in season opening loss to Suns

Dallas Mavericks: Luka Doncic drops 32 in season-opening loss to Suns

The Dallas Mavericks entered the 2020-2021 season with expectations for the first time in a few years. Luka Doncic is the betting favorite to win MVP. Most believe the Mavs will take the next step and jump into the top four in the Western Conference. Since Doncic came to Dallas, the team has outperformed the experts opinions. Expect that trend to continue this year.

The Mavericks traveled to Phoenix to face the Suns in the regular-season opener on Dec. 23. They were without star Kristaps Porzingis as he recovers from offseason knee surgery. Doncic and the Mavs faced a difficult test too. The Suns added Chris Paul and Jae Crowder in the offseason after winning all eight of their seeding games inside the Walt Disney World bubble.

It was a frustrating opener for Luka. He struggled to find his jumper as the Mavs offense got off to a slow start, but Doncic found it in the second half. Let us take a look at the 21-year-old star’s best plays from the 2020-2021 regular-season opener.

Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic struggles in first half of opener versus Suns

It was a slow start from the Mavs star. He missed his first six field-goal attempts as the team’s offense could not get going early. The Mavericks were held scoreless for the first two-plus minutes of the game before Josh Richardson leaked out for an easy lay-up. Doncic did not score until getting to the line nearly five minutes into the game. Fans can see his first field goal of the season below.

Luka nailed a second floater one minute later before exiting with 1:54 left in the first. He was two of nine from the field with seven points, four rebounds, and one assist. Dallas trailed by six when Doncic went to the bench. It was a rough start for the Mavericks.

Luka came back in with 7:03 left in the second quarter and Dallas trailing by four points. He missed his first two shots in this period, but the Mavs star found Josh Richardson for this wide-open triple.

Doncic committed to attacking the paint to get his offense going. He nailed three field goals in the final four minutes of the quarter to give him 13 first-half points. The Mavericks trailed by eight after scoring just 45 points in the first 24 minutes.

Next: Second half