OKLAHOMA CITY – It was a strange night for the Mavericks, hitting the floor without Luka Dončić on Sunday, the first time he’s been sidelined this season.
But they certainly won’t argue with the results, a 121-119 win over Oklahoma City.
The superstar point guard sat out against the Thunder, but not simply for health maintenance purposes on the second night of back-to-back games.
“It pertains to his right knee contusion so we’ll see how he feels today, how he feels tomorrow and hopefully he can go on Tuesday,” coach Jason Kidd said.
Dončić through the first 13 games averaged 28.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 7.8 assists. He was shooting just 32.1 percent from three-point range.
The seventh-year Slovenian missed all of training camp with a left calf contusion, but averaged 37.2 minutes per game in the first 13.
But it didn’t show, much, against the Thunder. The Mavericks got seven players reaching at least 10 points in the scoring department, led by P.J. Washington with 27 to go with 17 rebounds.
“Obviously, without our best player, it’s tough,” Washington said. “The ball was moving, everybody was playing good defensively, everybody was playing together and we had a good spirit about us today.”
That much was clear. Kyrie Irving had 23 points and six assists, Jaden Hardy and Naji Marshall had 13 points, Daniel Gafford had 11 and Spencer Dinwiddie and Quentin Grimes each had 10.
Clearly, the Mavericks aren’t the same without Luka. Irving took care of a lot of the ballhandling duties, but Hardy and Washington also were heavily involved in facilitating the offense.
The Mavericks play New Orleans on Tuesday at American Airlines Center before starting a three-game trip on Friday at Denver. The hope is that Luka will be back on Tuesday.
Last season, they went 4-8 in games that Luka missed.
Against the Thunder, the Mavericks had to play differently, trying to push the tempo a bit higher and going big most of the game against a smaller Thunder team.
“They’re very active and a team that doesn’t worry about their height,” Kidd said. “They’re going to play like this until they can get healthy. I thought Gaff and D-Live did a great job. Kai was patient, didn’t force anything.”
But just as it was different for the Mavericks going against the small Thunder, it was different for them going against a Luka-less Mavericks’ team.
Said Thunder coach Mark Daigneault: “It’s definitely a different game without Luka because of how he controls the tempo of the game and how dominant he is with the ball in their system.
“But it also will highlight how good the other players are on that team. They have a lot of really good players. I would expect them to be highly motivated tonight.”
He was right, particularly in the case of Washington and a lot of other Mavericks.
X: @ESefko
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