DALLAS _ The way things unfolded, Sunday night was shaping up to be the most memorable performance of Luka Doncic's young career.
The more he scored, tossed alley-oops to teammates and increased the buzz around the American Airlines Center, the rookie guard was on the verge of leading the Mavericks to a win against one of the league's best teams.
Toronto had other plans. The Raptors rode a late-game surge to a 123-120 victory over the Mavericks to snap Dallas' modest two-game winning streak.
But once again, the 19-year-old made being a rookie look a little too easy. Doncic had to settle for 12 rebounds, 10 assists and a season-high 35 points_his second triple-double of his NBA career.
Even in a loss, he showed why there's so much optimism around his role in the team's future.
"He played well," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said in perhaps the understatement of the year.
Carlisle's muted response probably stemmed from the fact the Mavs (22-27) had a chance to extend their winning streak to three games at the expense of the Raptors, one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference.
After trailing by 12 at halftime, the Mavericks led by as many as seven points in the fourth quarter before Toronto (37-15) took control. The Raptors went on a 10-2 run in the middle of a quarter that was fueled by forward Kawhi Leonard, who scored nine of his team-high 33 in the final 12 minutes.
But even as the Raptors closed the game and eventually took the lead, they had to contend with one of Doncic's best performances of the season.
There was one stretch when Luka accounted for eight of the team's 10 points, including an emphatic breakaway dunk with 9:30 left to ignite an otherwise docile crowd. The lone exception during that run was an alley-oop from Doncic to forward Dwight Powell.
But Doncic finally slowed down. Toward the end, as the Raptors went on a 10-4 run after the game was tied at 108 with 4:27 left, scoring became a bit more difficult for Doncic.
The guard's lone jumper in the final six minutes was when Doncic double-clutched in mid-air and sank a 26-foot 3-pointer in the final minute, after a large chunk of the crowd streamed toward the exits.
Even though he admitted it was one of the top performances of his young NBA career, he wasn't in a celebratory mood after the game.
"It would have been more special if we would have gotten a win, for sure," Doncic said.
But as the Mavs are starting to see a potential end to the rebuilding process with Doncic's emergence, the outcomes aren't necessarily as important as what they signal for the future.
In the first half, Dallas was at-risk of getting rolled by the leaders in the Atlantic Division. The Raptors knocked down 11 of their 20 3-pointers in the first half and led 70-58 at the break.
Behind Doncic and second-year guard Dennis Smith Jr., the Mavs kept that from happening.
Smith went on a personal 5-0 run in the third quarter to put them ahead for the first time since the beginning of the game. He scored 13 points in his third game since he missed six games for various reasons amid trade speculation.
When asked about meshing with Luka during the Mavs' three-game home stand, Smith said the issue was overblown.
"That's my dog, man," Smith said. "All the speculation, I think it needs to stop. I don't even like answering questions about it."
After Doncic's big dunk in the fourth quarter, Smith was waiting on the bench to give his backcourt mate a celebratory chest-bump. The two combined for an alley-oop earlier in the game that was one of the Mavs' biggest highlights of the second half.
But in the closing minutes, Dallas went through Doncic, hoping to exhaust any remaining magic he had planned for the evening. While his dominance could only carry the Mavs so far against the Mavs, he showed why he's garnered so much attention for the upcoming All-Star Game.
Doncic said he hopes his big performance will sway the coaches in the Western Conference when they select the reserves for the upcoming All-Star game.
Before the game, Raptors coach Nick Nurse listed his criteria for how a rookie should perform to receive the mid-season honor. By the end of the night, Doncic had lived up to the billing, even in a losing effort.
"Any young player has to be really spectacular," Nurse said before the Mavs guard turned in another strong performance. "And he has been really spectacular."
