3 studs, 2 duds from Mavericks' thrilling victory over Nets

1. Stud - Luka Doncic

Luka Doncic accounted for 14 of the Mavericks' final 17 points in the last three minutes and 22 seconds of game action, and his late-game shot-making was nothing short of legendary down the stretch as it capped off a 49 point performance off 9-14 shooting efficiency from 3-point range.

Doncic went 4-4 on 3-point shots in the final juncture of the game, concluding the most clutch performance of the year so far in this young NBA season with a jaw-dropping 25-foot bank shot while double-teamed at the end of the shot clock to put the Mavericks up 123-120 with 26.1 seconds remaining in the game.

Doncic wasn’t gun-shy whatsoever last night and was hoisting threes from the get-go. He’s arguably been getting to the rim with increased effectiveness this year, but you can’t blame him for shooting 14 three-point shots last season when he only came one three-point make shy of tying the Mavericks’ single-game record for most three-point shots made in one game in franchise history.

Doncic was the source of all the Mavericks' offensive initiation when he was in, especially with Irving and Josh Green having less-than-ideal games offensively. He did a great job at ball moving and used an effective drag dribble to make passes out of double teams once Brooklyn started trapping him on the perimeter.

Luka also had one of his more aggressive games defensively and on the glass, as he defended well in plenty of one-on-one scenarios throughout very pivotal possessions in the game even if he still had a few blatant mistakes on that end as per usual.

We’re only two games in, but Doncic is already making the case for an MVP campaign this season if he keeps willing the Mavericks to wins like this, but hopefully, he doesn’t have to, and the rest of the team follows suit. Regardless of what happens though, we’ll have you covered with everything involving the Dallas Mavericks as we look ahead to Memphis on Monday night.