DALLAS — The first game of the post-Kristaps Porzingis era probably wasn’t what we should expect from the Dallas Mavericks in the hereafter without the 7-foot-3 Latvian.
Foremost, Luka Doncic probably shouldn’t be expected to explode for 28 first-quarter points, or finish with a career-high 51, as he did Thursday night in the Mavericks’ 112-105 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers in American Airlines Center.
Although if Doncic were the face the Clippers more than four times in the regular season and seemingly every year in the playoffs, he’d probably have a Wilt Chamberlainesque scoring average.
This was the 17th time in Doncic’s career, including the playoffs, that he scored 40 or more points. Seven of those games are against the Clippers. Six of his top eight scoring games are against, you guessed it, the Clippers. His previous scoring high was 46, twice, against New Orleans and, of course, the Clippers in last season’s Game 7 playoff loss.
He also, BTW, has games of 39 and 38 points against the Clippers. Simply put, he’s ridiculously great against the Clippers.
“It was a really fun thing to watch,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “I didn’t have to do much. Just tried to stay out of the way.”
In the first quarter alone, he made a franchise-record seven 3-pointers. His 28 points were one shy of the franchise record held by Dirk Nowitzki, and Doncic’s 32 first-half points were two shy of Nowitzki’s franchise record.
“Just keep giving him the ball; that’s what I was trying to do,” Mavericks forward Dorian Finney-Smith said, adding of the Clippers, “It’s hard to stay in the game when you’ve got one guy who’s not missing.”
But as evidenced by last season’s seven-game playoff loss to the Clippers, and again Thursday night, a tidal wave of Doncic points guarantees nothing against the Clippers – even when they are without Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, as was the case Thursday.
Dallas led by as many as 17 points, 82-65, after a running Doncic 6-footer with 4:20 left in the third quarter, for his 40th and 41st points.
Los Angeles stormed to within 91-88 just two minutes into the fourth quarter, and Dallas was back in a dogfight.
Shortly after that, the trade orally agreed-to Thursday afternoon became official: Porzingis and a protected 2022 second-round pick to the Wizards for guard Spencer Dinwiddie and forward Davis Bertans.
Coincidentally or not, the Mavericks surged and maintained the lead the rest of the game.
For Dallas, it’s a high-water moment, a 32-22 record, the first time the Mavericks have been 10 games above .500 this season.
Other than Doncic’s record outburst, it was a “normal” night without Porzingis, as Finney-Smith, Reggie Bullock and Jalen Brunson scored in double figures.
The Mavericks had grown used to life without Porzingis. He hadn’t played in Dallas’ last five games, or 12 of the last 23 games. Or in 21 of this season’s 55 games entering Thursday.
Or in 75 of the potential 209 games Porzingis could have played during his three seasons in Dallas. The reality is it’s become increasingly easy to imagine life without Porzingis, although Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told The Dallas Morning News that Porzingis’ lack of availability wasn’t a significant factor in making the trade.
But one thing Cuban and the rest of the Mavericks’ brain trust noticed this season was that the Mavericks were consistently good defensively in coach Jason Kidd’s and coordinator Sean Sweeney’s schemes – whether Porzingis was on the court or not.
“Last year, when we looked at our defense, I was asking, why can’t we be better?” Cuban said. “And then sometimes it’s the system that matters, and in order for the system to work, you’ve got to have people that fit different roles within a system. And KP was great within certain roles, right? And he did a lot of amazing things with us, but there were certain things that we didn’t have with Timmy (Hardaway) out, so we were able to do two for one in that respect.”
