CNN
—
Luka Doncić scored 35 points, including a clutch three-pointer with less than 30 seconds left, to give the Dallas Mavericks a 103-101 win over the LA Clippers despite holding a 25-point lead.
The Slovenian star was so excited after dropping the winning bucket that he accidentally celebrated by putting his finger to his mouth and ‘choking’ his own Mavericks home support.
“I wanted a party,” Doncić after the game. “I’m not going to silence our fans, so I don’t know why I did this.”
It might not have been his best celebration, but his performance was worth praising. “Luka Magic” also had 11 rebounds, five assists and three steals, making all of his 11 free throws along the way.
But if not for the 23-year-old’s heroics, the Mavericks could have lost a game they led for most of the game before losing their advantage.
Facing an injured Clippers team – including Kawhi Leonard dealing with a knee blow – the Mavericks took a 15-point lead in the first quarter. Doncić’s dominance in the paint, coupled with that of Dorian Finney-Smith – who finished with 21 of 7 of 13 from the three-point line – the danger from deep, gave the home side a 54 lead -32 at halftime.
But the Clippers fought back. John Wall, who finished with 17 points and six rebounds, started the second half and helped spark a comeback. Alongside Paul George who finished with 23 points and Nicolas Batum – who sank his seven three-pointers – the Clippers completed a 30-point swing with eight minutes on the clock to take a five-point lead.
Inspired by Reggie Bullock – who scored his four hat-tricks in the final quarter – the Mavericks brought the game to within a point before Doncić intervened.
With 30 seconds left on the clock, Doncić recovered a loose ball and, under pressure, drained a triple from 29 feet to give the Mavs a 102-98 lead.
Batum went up the other end and fouled, scoring his first free throw and missing the second on purpose, but he couldn’t get the rebound as the Mavericks sealed the win making it 8-5 this season.
“We’re giving up a lot of big leads, just like we plotted,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said after the game.
“That third quarter – we just missed shots and we didn’t defend. Give the Clippers credit. They came out in the second half and put a lot of pressure on us. I thought the group handled it. the situation with grace in the sense that things weren’t going our way. But we didn’t self-destruct. We just stuck together and found a way.
Elsewhere, the Sacramento Kings racked up a staggering tally as they beat the Brooklyn Nets 153-121 for their fourth straight win.
Terrence Davis scored 31 points and grabbed nine rebounds off the bench and starters Domantis Sabonis, Harrison Barnes, De’Aaron Fox and Kevin Heurter all hit double digits as the Kings humiliated the Nets.
Brooklyn was again playing without Kyrie Irving, who was suspended by the team after he doubled down on his decision to share a link to a documentary criticized as anti-Semitic to his millions of social media followers.
Nets star Kevin Durant dropped 27 points for the visitors, but the visitors were helpless defensively, allowing the most points in a regulation game in Nets history.
“They made shots,” Durant said as the Nets slipped to 6-9 on the year. “It’s demoralizing to see teams take shots. It’s not like we haven’t tried. They were better than us.
