SAN ANTONIO — Dallas superstar Luka Doncic ended the historic run of five games by scoring 51 points. The Mavericks required all of it to defeat San Antonio Spurs. San Antonio Spurs.
Doncic scored two rebounds as well as two free throws in the last 4.5 seconds, assisting Dallas get the score 126-125 in the final 4.5 seconds over San Antonio in the night of Saturday to earn their sixth straight win.
The game was third time he scored 50 points over the last five games for Doncic. with 60 points with 21 rebounds and 10 assists last night during an overtime win against the Knicks. Doncic is the only athlete in NBA history to score 250 points and 50 rebound and 50 assists in five games.
“It’s incredible,” Mavericks center Christian Wood said. “In the seven seasons I’ve spent of playing in this league, I’ve not witnessed anyone do what he’s been capable of. He’s currently on a phenomenal run. It’s like an MVP. He’s clearly one of the top player in football.”
Wood scored 25 points to make it Dallas five straight wins in the battle against San Antonio.
Keldon Johnson scored thirty points in the win to Sam Antonio, Jeremy Sochan added 20 points and Jakob Poeltl had 19 points and 15 rebound.
After being 17 points ahead The Mavericks were forced to scramble to win the game in the closing minutes.
San Antonio guard Tre Jones was hit by Dallas forward Davis Bertans after Jones intentionally missed the second of two free shots with the Spurs losing by 126-124. Jones took the first free-throw, however, he missed his second.
Docic missed two free shots in 1.5 seconds remaining to prevent San Antonio from attempting a game-winning shot.
“Not easy to win here,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “But the Mavericks, once again, Luka was incredible. He helped us again by letting us miss the free throws for as long as he wanted to miss those free throws at the end of the stretch and ensuring that they were unable to make a play.”
Jones was averaging 18 points.
Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich jokingly vowed that Doncic will be held to under 50 points. The Mavericks star nearly joined in.
“No, I just wanted to get a win,” Doncic told reporters of his win with 51 points.
However, 51 points is a nice number but what about the other 51 points?
“Of course,” Doncic said with big smile.
The forward, who is 6 feet 7 inches tall, was on 49 points for the duration of half the fourth quarter, but he took two free throws in 4.5 seconds remaining to score 50-points for the fourth time in his career.
Doncic was a force in San Antonio with his usual range of step-backs and mid-range jumpers 3-pointers, and free throws. He shot 18-for-28 in the court.
“Yeah, we had a good team effort and individual effort on him, but he’s an amazing player,” Popovich declared. “His intelligence is unbeatable. We’d prefer to win than lose like everyone else However, (I’m) very happy with their work and how they continued to work hard even when we were down whatever it was. 13 or 14, I don’t recall.”
Doncic scored 22 points during the opening quarter and added an assist. He was responsible for the majority of the Mavericks scoring in the first quarter.
