The seeding games within the Disney World bubble of NBA continued on Saturday night with a matchup between two of the league’s best young players, and the action did not disappoint. After an exciting game that required overtime, Luka Doncic led the Dallas Mavericks to a 136-132 win over Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks.
Continuing the trend that continued in Orlando, Luka Doncic was unbelievable, finishing with 36 points, 14 rebounds and a career-high 19 assists for his league-leading 17th triple-double this season. He did everything for his team, including throwing one of the best passes of the season to seal the win late in the fourth quarter.
Giannis and Brook Lopez both finished with 34 points to lead the Bucks, while Khris Middleton added 21 points, six rebounds and 11 assists. But even though Milwaukee had a lot of success on the offensive end, they could not figure out how to slow down the Mavericks’ offensive offense, and that was their downfall tonight.
Luke, take a bow
See, Luke is great. We know what he’s about. We know his passing, we know his shots, his ability to fully control the game on the offensive end. And yet he appears one day or another every night and makes us shake our heads in infidelity. Besides the skill and competitiveness, that ability to keep you coming back more and more, desperately waiting for the next great game, even though you’ve seen countless others before, is what separates the real grits. And Luke has it, one hundred percent.
His one-handed, between-the-legs pocket pass on the way to Maxi Kleber for a dunk was one of the best passes in years, and to do so in the overtime of a close game was just … wow. He is a magician. He is unbelievable. There is not enough room here to justify his performance.
For the night, he finished with 36 points, 14 rebounds and a career-high 19 assists, and overall he was responsible for 81 of the night’s 136 points from the Mavericks, which does not even seem like it should be possible. It was his 17th triple-double of the season, and guaranteed him the season crown, and it was his 12th 30-triple-double of the season; only Russell Westbrook and Oscar Robertson have had more of those in one campaign.
Mavericks are definitely benefiting from stars
Luka and Kristaps Porzingis have been great since the restart. From crazy triple-doubles by Luka, to nights of 30 points from Porzingis, their stars were ready to go. Unfortunately, it did not translate into much success. Coming into this game, they were just 1-3 in the bubble, and totally in seventh place.
It took overtime, but on Saturday night they finally took advantage of the young duo that showed up. Luka’s brilliance has already been addressed, but Porzingis even had another solid game, finishing with 26 points, 11 rebounds and three assists, even though he was a bit inefficient.
With the win, the Mavericks improved to 2-3 in Orlando, and 42-30 overall. They are still firmly on the No. 7 spot in the West, but if they were hoping to go on, they had to have this game. Now, they are two games back from both the Oklahoma City Thunder and Utah Jazz, who are fifth bound. With only three games to play, they have no margin for error, but it is technically still possible for them to jump a point up and avoid the Clippers, who are likely to look second in the first round.
Lopez breaks out
Brook Lopez has been a revelation since becoming a member of the Bucks. He has been the center of their dynamite defense, swallowing everything to the brim, and his ability to sweep the floor has helped open up so much space for Giannis to operate. A few role players mean more to her team than Lopez.
But after shooting a career-best 36.5 percent from 3-point land last season, he quietly dropped all the way down to 30.6 percent. The Bucks have been so good that it doesn’t really matter, but it makes their offense just a little less threatening than any of the guys they spread across the perimeter can’t trust to hit a 3 in a playoff game.
On Saturday night, however, Lopez had it inscribed. He went 6 of 12 from downtown to a season-high 34 points. It was the first time all season that he made six 3s, after scoring five times last season. In the four games he has played in the bubble, he is now at 43.5 percent on 5.8 3-point attempts per game. If he found his shot in Orlando, that would be a big boost for the Bucks.
