Basketball: Doncic’s 51 points help surging Mavs outlast Spurs

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Venerable San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said Luka Doncic’s “IQ is off the charts” after he poured in 51 points, including two free throws with 4.5 seconds remaining to help the visiting Dallas Mavericks outlast the Spurs 126-125 on Saturday.

It extended Dallas’ National Basketball Association winning streak to their season-best six games.

“We had a good team effort and individual effort on him, but he’s an amazing player,” said Popovich, who has five NBA titles with the Spurs and led the United States to basketball gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

“His IQ is off the charts. So, we would rather win than lose like everybody else in the world, but (I’m) really proud of their effort and the way they just kept going even after we got down whatever it was, 13, 14, I can’t remember.”

This is Doncic’s third 50-plus point game in the past eight days. He also broke Dallas’ franchise record for most 40-point games and his 526 points in December is also a new mark for the Mavericks.

Dirk Nowitzki previously held the record for the highest-scoring month with 510 in March 2006.

Said Mavericks centre Christian Wood: “It’s incredible. In my seven years in the league, I’ve never seen anybody do what he’s able to do.

“He’s on an incredible run. He’s playing like an MVP. Clearly one of the best players in the league.”

The Mavericks led by 10 points after three quarters but San Antonio fought back, getting to within 112-111 after a pair of free throws by Jakob Poeltl with 5min 29sec to go. After Dallas rebuilt their lead to six points, the Spurs rallied again, getting a floater by Poeltl to cut their deficit to 121-119 with 2:09 left.

Another pair from the charity stripe by Poeltl closed the gap to one point with 1:34 remaining. Frank Ntilikina’s jumper extended the Mavericks’ lead to three points before Jeremy Sochan responded with two free throws with 20.2 seconds to play.

Sochan then missed on a driving shot with 5.7 seconds left and Frenchman Ntilikina grabbed the rebound. After a time-out, Doncic was fouled and made both free throws with 4.5 seconds left.

The 23-year-old Slovenian guard later missed two free throws with 1.5 seconds on the clock to stop the Spurs from attempting a game-winning shot.

Said Dallas coach Jason Kidd: “Not easy to win here. But, again, Luka was incredible. He bails us out again by missing the free throws, as much as he wanted to make those free throws down the stretch, so that they didn’t have time to set up a play.”

He added: “We’ve got to get healthy here soon. We’re asking too much of Luka.”

San Antonio’s Tre Jones had a chance to tie the game but made just one of two free throws with 2.7 seconds to play, allowing the Mavericks to escape with the victory.

Wood added 25 points for Dallas, with Tim Hardaway Jr hitting for 14 and Spencer Dinwiddie scoring 11. Doncic added nine assists.

Keldon Johnson led the Spurs with 30 points while Sochan added 20. Austrian Poeltl racked up 19 points and 15 rebounds, Jones tallied 18 points and Zach Collins scored 13.

Doncic set the pace early on for another big performance, scoring 22 of the Mavericks’ points in the first quarter, which ended with Dallas ahead 32-30. The Spurs stayed close thanks to 63.2 per cent shooting from the floor and scoring from nine of the 10 players who saw the court in the period.

The second period had 10 lead changes, the last on Doncic’s three-pointer with 1:11 remaining to put the Mavericks ahead 63-60.

Dallas led 68-64 at the break despite being outshot 62.8 per cent to 57.4 per cent and being outscored in the paint 34-26.

Doncic led all scorers with 30 points before half-time while Wood added 10 for the Mavericks. San Antonio countered with 17 points from Johnson. REUTERS