Luka Doncic dazzled this Thursday in the victory of the Dallas Mavericks about Los Angeles Clippers (112-105) by achieving 51 points, which is a new scoring record for the Slovenian in the NBA.
Doncic started the game at full speed with a memorable first quarter in which he scored 28 points with 10 of 13 shooting and 7 of 10 triples. The point guard finished the match with 51 points (17 of 26 shooting, 7 of 14 triples), 9 rebounds and 6 assists against 7 turnovers in 40 minutes on the court.
The Mavericks they came to win by 17 points in the third quarter, but in the last quarter they had to throw in the rest to avoid a comeback by Clippers who are experts at turning games around.
Marcus Morris (21 points) was the top scorer for the Los Angeles team, which was much lower in rebounding (31 to 41 of its rivals).
The Mavericks and Clippers maintain a notable rivalry forged in recent years as the Angelenos eliminated the Dallas in the first round of the playoffs of the last two years.
This was the Mavericks’ first game without Kristaps Porzingiswho was traded to the Washington Wizards, and the Clippers’ first game without Serge Ibaka, who has signed with the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Slovenian will play the All Star
In addition, Doncic will play for LeBron James’ team in the NBA All-Star, which will be played on February 20 in Cleveland (USA).
LeBron James and Kevin Durant, the captains of the two teams, met this Thursday in the All-Star draft to choose in turns to the members of their groups.
Durant will not be able to be in the All-Star due to injury, but he still chose the members of the team Team Durant which will be measured at Team LeBron.
Thus, LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers) chose as starters for his group Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks), Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors), DeMar DeRozan (Chicago Bulls) and Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets).
In addition, the Lakers star chose Luka Doncic (Dallas Mavericks) as reserves for his team, Jimmy Butler (Miami Heat), darius garland (Cleveland Cavaliers), James Harden (Brooklyn Nets but whose transfer to the Philadelphia 76ers was revealed this Thursday), Donovan Mitchell (Utah Jazz), Chris Paul (Phoenix Suns) and Fred VanVleet (Toronto Raptors).
For his part, Durant had to choose five starters since he will not be on the court.
In this way, the starting five of Team Durant will be formed by Joel Embid (Philadelphia 76ers), Ja Morant (Memphis Grizzlies), Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics), Andrew Wiggins (Golden State Warriors) and Trae Young (Atlanta Hawks).
The reservations will be LaMelo Ball (Charlotte Hornets) Devin Booker (Phoenix Suns), Rudy Gobert (Utah Jazz), Zach LaVine (Chicago Bulls), Khris Middleton (Milwaukee Bucks), Dejounte Murray (San Antonio Spurs) and Latino Karl-Anthony Towns (Minnesota Timberwolves).
The selection of players for the All-Star left a funny moment when Durant seemed to avoid choosing his former teammate Harden for his teamsomething that sparked laughter from LeBron on the other side of the screen.
On the last day of the NBA transfer market, James Harden and Paul Millsap they were traded to the Sixers, who sent Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and two first-round draft picks to the Nets.