Many called this matchup Luka Doncic’s “revenge” game, as he faced the team that first drafted him and abruptly traded him out before this February’s deadline. This is why the Slovenian went all out to put on a show against the Mavericks this Tuesday night, at his new home in Lakers‘ Crypto.com Arena.
The 25-year-old, who is set to become 26 on Friday, led the purple and gold to a 107-99 victory, becoming only the third player in NBA history to record a triple-double against every team in the league. After the game, he just felt relieved that it was finally all over.
“It was just a lot of emotions and not much sleep,” he shared of playing his former teammates. “I can’t even explain [it]. It was a different game. … Sometimes I don’t know what I was doing. And I’m just glad it’s over, honestly.”
Doncic posted an impressive display with 19 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assists, joining Denver’s Russell Westbrook and teammate LeBron James as the only players to post triple-doubles against all 30 teams in the NBA. However, he didn’t dominate the Dallas squad.
The Los Angeles guard shot 6-for-17 from the field (only 1-for-7 from 3), but it was James who sunk 16 of his 27 points on 7-for-9 shooting in the fourth quarter to seal last night’s victory.”It definitely will help me,” Luka said of beating his former team. “It’s definitely going to help in the long [run].”
During the matchup, Nico Harrison stood on the sidelines at midcourt watching the player’s pregame warmups. Even so, Luka said he didn’t noticed him, but during the game the Slovenian kept directing his celebrations to the Dallas’ bench.
“Obviously there’s a lot of emotion that goes in when you give so much to a franchise and you sacrifice for a franchise and you have that type of love and respect for a franchise — throughout all the journeys,” LeBron said of Doncic. “They went to the Finals, all that stuff.”
