Luke Doncic delivered a magnificent performance on Tuesday in the NBA regular season with the Dallas Mavericks. During the Texans’ home victory against the New York Knicks (126-121 ap), the Slovenian indeed scored 60 points (21/31 in shooting, including 2/6 at three points) and took 21 rebounds, or two personal bests in his North American career. He also had a triple-double, with 10 assists, ahead of the first player 60-20-10 in one game. And, to top it off, Dallas won after an incredible scenario, where Doncic obviously played the leading roles.
Doncic scores 10 points in the last minute
In Texas, the Knicks led in the score for almost the 48 regulatory minutes. In the third quarter, they reached their maximum lead with 12 units more than their opponent (92-80, 35th). And, 30 seconds from the end, New York still had a nine-point lead (112-103). In this situation, a team had never lost, in 13,885 occurrences over the last 25 years. It was without counting on Luka Doncic, who had already been royal, since he had 43 points to his credit at the edge of the last minute. But the Slovenian player scored ten more in 60 seconds.
And it was he who allowed himself to snatch the extra time, one second from the end, by deliberately missing a free throw, then recovering the ball and succeeding in the shot which offered five additional minutes of play. In overtime, the “Mavs” star remained very active, scoring seven of his team’s eleven points and thus allowing the Texans to win at home, after running behind the score for a long time.
Dinwiddie and Wood also show up
The Mavs have thus recorded a fourth consecutive victory and are in sixth position in the Western Conference. In addition to a stratospheric Doncic, they were also able to count on Spencer Dinwiddie (25 points) and Christian Wood (19 points). Frank Ntilikina only played seven minutes, leaving a completely blank stats sheet.
On the side of New York, Quentin Grimes (33 pts, career record) and Julius Randle (29 pts) shone, but in vain. As since November 13, Evan Fournier did not come into play. The Knicks lost for the fourth straight time and are sixth in the Western Conference. They will play again Thursday, still in Texas, but at the San Antonio Spurs, this time. At the same time, the Dallas Mavericks will receive their neighbors the Houston Rockets.