CLEVELAND — Luka Doncic ventured into LeBron James’ old stomping grounds Saturday night and delivered one of those spectacular drop the mic LeBron-like moments for the ages.
Doncic was raining eye-popping step-back threes, floaters and drives, all while getting whatever he wanted and whenever he wanted before a sellout crowd of 19,432 at Quicken Loans Arena. All toll, the rookie from Slovenia poured in a career-high tying 35 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and handed out six assists as the Mavs ended their three-game road trip with a 111-98 triumph over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
With the victory, the Mavs finished this road trip 2-1 and won multiple games on a road trip for the first time this season. Also, the Mavs padded their overall record to 24-28 while matching their win total for last season – with 30 games remaining.
Locked and loaded, Doncic came out firing as he tickled the twine for 18 jaw-dropping points in the first quarter alone on 7-of-9 shots, including 4-of-5 buckets from beyond the 3-point line. It truly was LeBron-esque.
“Everybody knows LeBron is my idol,” Doncic said. “I’m just trying to play a game like him.”
The outburst by Doncic helped the Mavs to a 40-31 lead after the first quarter. Doncic added 10 more points in the second quarter, which ended with the Mavs clinging to a 58-55 lead and their coach not at all happy with his team’s defense.
“In the first half we were playing brother-in-law basketball,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “You take a shot, I’ll take a shot. We just traded shots.
“In the second half we got some attitude and some resolve defensively, and we held them to 43 (points), and that was big.”
Following a poor start that saw him miss nine of his first 10 shots, Harrison Barnes came into his own in the second half. At one point Barnes connected on six straight field goals from various areas on the court.
In fact, after a four-point play by rookie Jalen Brunson increased the Mavs’ lead to 90-80, Barnes buried a 3-pointer, assisted on a layup to Dwight Powell, then scored on a layup, drilled another 3-pointer and shortly thereafter added his third trey of the fourth quarter as Dallas zoomed ahead 106-91 with 4:34 left.
“Harrison was great in the second half,” Carlisle said. “He didn’t get discouraged (by the slow start), he had some tough luck with shots in the first half.
“He kept defending, he kept working, and during that period when Luka was out of the game that’s when we took control. He hit a bunch of shots in a row, had a great assist to Powell and really gave us some separation.”
Doncic, meanwhile, acknowledged that he knew Cleveland is home to the largest population of Slovenians in the world outside of Slovenia. And they were praising his every move on Saturday.
“I was aware before the game when I went to shoot and there were a lot of Slovenian fans,” Doncic said. “So I really appreciate it.”
Because of last Thursday’s blockbuster trade with New York — where the Mavs dispatched three of their starters to the Knicks — Carlisle rolled out a starting lineup that included Maxi Kleber, Dorian Finney-Smith, Barnes, Doncic and Brunson. Prior to Saturday, that lineup had played together for just two minutes all season.
But, in addition to the production from Doncic and Barnes, Brunson finished with 15 points and six rebounds, Kleber had 10 points and nine boards, and Finney-Smith collected seven points and 10 rebounds, and his rebound dunk gave Dallas its largest lead at 110-94 with 1:48 remaining in the game.
“I’m just going to bring energy and play as hard as I can and just play my role,” Brunson said. “Just play within myself and just do whatever the team needs from me.”
Dirk Nowitzki received a huge ovation when he entered the game for the first time ate in the first quarter. Nowitzki, however, hobbled off the court after Powell accidently stepped is foot.
Overall, Nowitzki played nine minutes and grabbed five rebounds. But he failed to score or take any shots from the field.
“We play to win,” Nowitzki said. “We don’t play for anybody to get shots.”
Carlisle, though, took blame for Nowitzki not getting any looks at the basket.
“That’s probably the first time in his career he hadn’t got a shot off in the game,” Carlisle said. “That was my fault. We should have figured out a way to get him one.”
Doncic got his fair share of shots as he was 13-of-25 from the field and 4-of-11 from 3-point range. His dizzying performance even had Doncic thinking he would topple the 40-point barrier for the first time in the NBA.
“I was hoping so, but we got a win, so that’s all that mattered,” Doncic said. “I felt great, the shots were going in, so I felt great.”
Doncic sat out Thursday’s 93-89 loss in Detroit with a sore left ankle. So this was his first game since being snubbed as an All-Star reserve.
Was that on his mind Saturday while he was ripping the Cavs apart?
“I try to show every day that I can be in that (All-Star) game,” Doncic said. “But unfortunately they didn’t pick me, so I’ll just work harder to be there next year.”
If Doncic continues to play like he did Saturday, that notion will be a slam dunk.
NOTES: Before Saturday’s game, coach Rick Carlisle was asked what improvements he believes Luka Doncic needs to make. “I just think he’s going to continue to get better in all areas,” coach Rick Carlisle. “The more he plays, the more he’s out there with teammates — out there with his new teammates coming up in the next couple of days — that’s a lot of what it’s about.” Carlisle said Doncic probably gets picked on more than his fair share of times on the defensive end of the floor. “All rookies in this league get attacked defensively,” Carlisle said. “He’s really picked up his defense, not only the knowledge of how to defend in the NBA, but just getting in a stance and being able to guard guys really of all sizes. There are instances when we do a lot of switching, or I should say we do switch at times, and he switches on the big guys and he switches on the small guys and he’s doing better and better.”. .Carlisle is hopeful that Tim Hardaway Jr, Courtney Lee and Trey Burke — three of the four players the Mavs received in Thursday’s trade with the New York Knicks — will be available to play in Wednesday’s home game against Charlotte. “We’ll see how the physical goes,” Carlisle said. “Physicals have to be done by a certain time (Sunday). But that’s certainly our hope.” . .Owner Mark Cuban told Mavs.com that the fourth player the Mavs got in the trade from the Knicks – Kristaps Porzingis – won’t play this season as he continues to rehab from torn left anterior cruciate ligament surgery. . .Carlisle said he’s hopeful that former Cavs coach Bill Fitch will be inducted into the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame this summer. “The big thing is to try to educate all of the voters, whoever they are, because it’s unanimous,” Carlisle said. “The one thing that Bill Fitch has done that no other coach has done is take five jobs with teams that were either a beginning expansion franchise, deep lottery teams, and he brought those teams all to a significant higher level.” Ironically, Carlisle played on the Boston Celtics’ team that defeated Fitch’s Houston Rockets in six games in the 1986 NBA Finals. Carlisle said: “He doesn’t hold that against me.”
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