Doncic dominates as Mavs outgun Harden, Rockets
OTHERWORLDLY. Luka Doncic continues to take the NBA by storm in his second season. File photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images/AFP
LOS ANGELES, USA – Luka Doncic continued his otherworldly start to the NBA season, scoring 41 points as the Dallas Mavericks won their fifth straight with a 137-123 victory over the slumping Houston Rockets.
Doncic, who is averaging a near-triple-double, also had 10 assists and 6 rebounds, while Rockets superstar James Harden finished with 32 points and 11 assists in a showdown of dominant scorers.
Kristaps Porzingis, Doncic's European running mate, also recorded a double-double on Sunday, November 24 (Monday, November 25, Philippine time) with 23 points and 13 rebounds as the Mavericks led wire-to-wire for the victory.
"Luka runs the show," Porzingis said. "We all depend on him most of the game, and he's playing incredible right now. He's getting guys open looks... He's playing incredible right now. I'm super happy for him."
Heading into the contest, Doncic averaged 33.3 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 11.0 assists during their five-game streak, which included back-to-back 40 point-plus wins over the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors.
Tim Hardaway scored 31 points on 10-of-18 shooting, including 5 of 11 on three-pointers in the win in front of a crowd of 18,050 at Toyota Center Arena.
"This is a big win. There's no question about that," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. "You come in here, this is a big-time place to play and you're playing against great players."
"So our guys deserve credit but this is a process and it's day-by-day and week-by-week and we've got to continue to go for daily improvement."
'They punched us good'
The Rockets dropped their third straight game following an eight-game winning streak. Houston had its moments when it came close to forcing a tie but it always fell just short.
Dallas shot 48% overall and hit 17 of 44 three-pointers. The Rockets finished 10 of 44 from beyond the arc as Harden alone missed 13 of the 15 three-pointers he attempted.
The Rockets opened the game with 3 turnovers on their first 3 possessions, fuelling the Mavericks' 7-0 start.
"We allowed them to do whatever they wanted to do from the beginning of the game and when you give a team like that comfort... they gain confidence. And that's what they did," Houston coach Mike D'Antoni said.
Clint Capela recorded his sixth 20-rebound game in 7 starts, delivering 22 rebounds with 21 points.
Russell Westbrook added 27 points, while P.J. Tucker and Danuel House scored 16 points apiece.
"They punched us good and we fall all the way back. When you do that, you run out of gas," said D'Antoni.
Elsewhere, Bogdan Bogdanovic hit a clutch three-pointer with 88 seconds remaining as the visiting Sacramento Kings pulled out a 113-106 victory over the Washington Wizards.
Harrison Barnes led all scorers with 26 points, including two free throws with 1:56 left that set the stage for Bogdanovic's heroic triple.
Bogdanovic added 3 free throws in the final 62 seconds as the Kings won their seventh game in the last 10.
Bradley Beal had 20 points and a game-high 8 assists to pace the Wizards, who led by as many as 7 points in the first half. – Rappler.com
