DALLAS — A few minutes after completing his latest dominant performance in the Mavericks’ recent dominant run, Luka Doncic plopped down in front of a camera to talk with reporters over Zoom.
But before he answered questions in English and Spanish about scoring 42 points in 43 minutes of a 105-89 win over the championship-contending Clippers, the Mavericks’ All-Star point guard had one of his own.
He asked a communications staffer how many points the Clippers scored.
She told him 89.
“Oh, nice,” Doncic said with a nod.
The Mavericks might’ve chosen to use even stronger descriptors to characterize Doncic’s contributions.
Already recognized internationally for his offensive savvy and skill, 22-year-old Doncic lately has flashed improvements on defense that have helped transform him into a more complete MVP candidate and the once-slogging Mavericks into a threat for home-court advantage in the playoffs.
“Luka was spectacular,” Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. “Sometimes you simply run out of adjectives to describe how good he is.”
In the biggest games against the most challenging teams the Mavericks have faced in the last few weeks, Doncic has been at his best — on both ends of the court.
He tied a season-high plus-29 rating Wednesday night, which he first set in the Mavericks’ record-setting throttling of the Clippers in December. Since late February, Doncic has also rated plus-21 versus Brooklyn, plus-18 versus San Antonio, and plus-9 versus Denver — all teams with better records than Dallas’ current 21-18.
Doncic’s three steals Wednesday against the Clippers were his third most in a single game this season. His two blocks marked the sixth time this season he’s tallied more than one in a game. Doncic managed the production while committing just one defensive foul — late in the first quarter when the Mavericks were still working to adjust to Los Angeles’ physicality.
Doncic’s individual defensive rating (90 points per 100 possessions) was the best of his career in games he’s played more than 35 minutes.
“They have 89 points,” Doncic said. “I mean, that’s great defense against a really great team. Everybody had great defense today.”
The Mavericks also played without Dorian Finney-Smith, whose son, Aysen, was born early Wednesday.
Finney-Smith had become the Mavericks’ primary defender against superstar Kawhi Leonard, so his absence meant each player incurred additional defensive responsibility against a Clippers team with the NBA’s fifth-best offensive rating (116.2 points per 100 possessions).
Doncic, though, didn’t appear interested in budgeting his energy as he left four-time All-NBA defensive team selection Paul George looking befuddled multiple times with his step-back moves and cuts to the basket.
“He got comfortable and he made shots,” Leonard said of Doncic, who went 6 of 11 from 3. “It’s hard to turn off that water once a great player like that gets rolling.”
The Mavericks’ defensive challenges won’t relent this weekend with consecutive games against the sixth-place Trail Blazers, who’ve recently returned guard C.J. McCollum (foot fracture) to their lineup to support MVP candidate and all-world closer Damian Lillard.
Perhaps Doncic will have some added motivation — aside from the eighth-place Mavericks’ opportunity to gain traction in the West standings.
He hasn’t earned the Mavericks’ defensive player of the game belt since the post-win tradition started in January.
Josh Richardson received it Wednesday for a loose-ball play in the first quarter that Carlisle said “set the tone” for a clampdown on the team that ended their playoff run last summer.
“We’re nowhere near the end of the season but that play was symbolic of what our team stood for,” Carlisle said. “We were going to fight all the way and we were going to be defiant on how we approached it.”
