CHICAGO – Luka Dončić and Jason Kidd went back and forth on whether the point guard should remain in Monday’s game
against the Chicago Bulls in an attempt to try and extend his NBA-record 30-point triple-double streak.
It was a thoughtful conversation that finally ended with both men realizing the streak wasn’t as important as the health of Dončić. So Dončić came up three points shy of extending his 30-point triple-double streak to seven straight games, but the Mavs were still able to win their third straight game by bouncing the Bulls out of the United Center, 127-92, before a sellout crowd of 21,363.
“Luka setting records, it becomes tough when you’re trying to win the game and you’re also trying to be respectful of the situation,” Kidd, the Mavs’ coach, said. “So, to try to get him 30 because this is something that’s never been done before – also not putting him in a position to get hurt – it was constant conversations between the two of us about, ‘what do you want to do,’ and he was like ‘Whatever you want to do.’
“So, we were playing tennis a little bit. We were volleying with each other and who was going to make the decision (to take him out of the game). So, we gave him a couple of cracks at it, and then I looked at him and told him it was time for him to come out, 
and he was good with that. That just shows his maturity and his leadership. As well as he’s going with records, he also understood the situation.”
Kidd pulled the plug on Dončić with 6:09 remaining and the Mavs in a commanding 111-78 lead. With that, Dončić’s string of five straight 35-point triple-doubles also ended, but he still registered a triple-double for the seventh straight game.
However, this was a night where heroes were plentiful for the Mavs. For starters, center Daniel Gafford was 9-for-9 from the field and finished with 20 points, seven rebounds and two blocks. Gafford has now made an NBA record 28 consecutive field goals – a record that goes back to when play-by-play was tracked beginning in 1996-97.
Also, backup center Dereck Lively II was 11-of-12 from the field with a eight dunks en route to a career-high 22 points to go with seven boards and two blocks.
Gafford and Lively combined to shoot 20-of-21 from the floor for a gaudy 95.2 percent. They also became the first two players in Mavs history to score at least 20 points and combine for at least 95 percent shooting from the field in the same game.
“When you talk about Gaff and D-Live played at a high level on both ends,” Kidd said. “When you talk about Gaff, he’s (got) 28 (made field goals) in a row.
“That’s hard to do, and he’s doing it with some special players out there when you talk about Luka and (Kyrie Irving). No, I have never seen this before when you have two centers dominate like that.”
Lively missed Saturday’s game against Detroit for personal reasons, but was back with the team Monday and made an indelible impact right away with 10 points in six minutes of action in the first quarter.
“I think when you talk about a rookie, it’s always that rookie wall,” Kidd said. “Especially the pace of today’s game is a lot faster. I think D-Live has done an incredible job on the floor and off the floor.
“You know, a lot of times we are judged on what we do on the floor. For those who are around them 24 hours we get to see them off the floor. And I think D-Live is doing an incredible job, because it’s just not about basketball for him, but also other things that are going on in life, and I think he’s handling it extremely well as a 20-year old.”
Gafford, meanwhile, was all giddy with what he was able to accomplish.
“With me — which is my philosophy for sure — being consistent and having the mindset of just wanting to finish everything, no matter if there’s somebody in front of you or if there isn’t somebody in front of you,” Gafford said. “At the end of the day, I either dunk it or put it in the rim.”
On this day, the Mavs put a lot of balls in the rim as they shot a healthy 54.8 percent from the field, and also limited the Bulls to just 39.3 percent shooting.
Playing like they were late to catch a plane, the Mavs (37-28) made quick work of the Bulls (31-35) as they got 15 points and seven assists from Dončić and led 44-16 after the first quarter. It was a time where Gafford and Lively took turns either knocking the Bulls around under the basket, or either player would leak out ahead of the pack and Dončić would fire a long dart which led to an un
contested dunk.
The Mavs held a 62-42 lead at the half and continued to pour it on in the third quarter when they outscored Chicago, 36-22.
Irving added to the Mavs’ attack with 14 points, and Jaden Hardy scored 11 points in just seven minutes during mop-up duty.
Meanwhile, the Bulls had won three of their previous four games, including a pair of road victories last week in Sacramento and Golden State. But they were absolutely no match for the Mavs, particularly with Lively and Gafford muscling them around inside the paint.
“I just got to be able to be thankful for my teammates finding me in the position I’m in,” Lively said. “(I was) finding little holes in the defense and just trying to be able to score when I can.
“I feel like when we
get in the flow of the game, we started reading each other. We know where Luka needs us, we know whenever Luka has two or three (defenders) on him just find the open space and he’s going to get you the ball.”
Doncic and his teammates got the ball to Lively and Gafford so much that the Mavs racked up 34 assists while turning the ball over just six times. It was a masterful performance by the Mavs.
Now, the Mavs turn their attention to a brutal three-game stretch of games starting with Wednesday’s home game against Golden State, followed by a Thursday contest in Oklahoma City and Sunday’s showdown in Dallas against the defending NBA world champion Denver Nuggets.
X: @DwainPrice
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