DALLAS — One of the NBA’s brightest young point guards celebrated his birthday with victory in American Airlines Center on Tuesday night.
Unfortunately for Luka Doncic, Indiana Pacers All-Star Tyrese Haliburton crashed the festivities.
The Mavericks lost 124-122 to the Pacers, spoiling Doncic’s 39-point, nine-rebound, six-assist stat line on his 24th birthday.
Doncic hit a 3-pointer and assisted Bullock from deep one possession later to fuel an 8-0 run and cut Indiana’s lead to 121-120 with 2:30 remaining, but Dallas missed its last six field-goal attempts to tie or take the lead.
After Indiana rookie Andrew Nembhard missed a pair of free throws with 7.6 seconds remaining, Kyrie Irving clanged what would’ve been the game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Haliburton, a Feb. 29, 2000, leap-year baby who celebrated turning 23 on Tuesday, prevailed with 32 points, seven rebounds and six assists instead, prompting more questions about Dallas’ porous defense and playoff prospects with 19 regular-season games remaining.
The Mavericks dropped to 1-4 with Doncic and star trade addition Irving on the court together — this defeat to 2011 championship coach Rick Carlisle and the rebuilding Pacers the most concerning and birthday-souring outing yet.
About two hours before tipoff, the Mavericks revealed what might’ve been Doncic’s ideal gift, aside from victory.
Coach Jason Kidd confirmed power forward Maxi Kleber was cleared for his first game since tearing his right hamstring tendon Dec. 13 and undergoing an intricate surgery Dec. 20, a procedure the team’s medical staff had never treated.
Kleber received a raucous applause from the crowd when he subbed in at the 6:53 mark in the first quarter — and a high-five and big smile from Doncic. The 31-year-old swatted away Indiana’s attempt at an offensive rebound on his first play, and then drew a hard shooting foul on offense.
A few possessions later, Kleber drove from the top of the arc for a rare one-handed dunk, prompting all on the Mavericks’ bench to stand and holler with excitement.
Kleber started the second half at center in place of Dwight Powell, closed as the Mavericks’ lone big man and finished with nine points (4 of 5 shooting) in 24 minutes.
“Adding him to the mix is going to help them a lot,” Carlisle said, “with his defense, shooting, the way they can play small and do all the switching and stuff like that.”
Too bad Kleber cannot defend five positions at once.
Indiana scored at least 31 points in each of the first three quarters and capitalized on the Mavericks’ foul-heavy play, making 31 of 40 free throw attempts, including three from Haliburton to help stave off Dallas’ late threat.
Indiana’s 38-26 scoring advantage in the second quarter erased Doncic’s early impression — 18 points (7 of 9 shooting) in 12 first-quarter minutes — and forced Dallas into a 69-59 deficit at halftime.
No way Doncic would allow the Mavericks to wilt with his not-so-favorite coach Carlisle on the opposite sideline and when his team started the night just two games ahead of the postseason-less 11th seed in the Western Conference standings.
With that in mind, none in American Airlines Center should’ve been surprised to see Doncic overpower the Pacers to start the third quarter, fueling a 20-7 run that ended with a pair of Reggie Bullock 3-pointers and a 79-78 Mavericks lead about five minutes into the period.
After Bullocks’ second swish, Doncic looked over toward Carlisle and motioned for him to take a timeout.
Carlisle did.
Oh how fans wished Kidd would’ve done the same to help settle his team during the Mavericks’ 27-point collapse Sunday against the Los Angeles Lakers, which preceded Kidd’s public criticism of Doncic’s maturity and poise with officials.
Doncic might’ve forgotten about that mid-game Tuesday.
Late in the second quarter, he became irate with officials for a perceived non-call after Euless native Myles Turner (24 points and seven rebounds) blocked one of his shots and drew his 13th technical foul of the season — three shy of the NBA’s regular-season threshold for a one-game suspension.
Perhaps no surprise the Pacers appeared the more relaxed team.
With two off days between their Saturday night win in Orlando and Tuesday’s tipoff in American Airlines Center, the Pacers enjoyed what Carlisle called “an extended All-Star break” with their Dallas connections.
Carlisle, who coached the Mavericks for 13 seasons until 2021, hosted the team at his house Sunday night and appreciated extra time with his wife, Donna, and daughter, Abby, who’s finishing her senior year of high school in Dallas. He then organized a team dinner at Nick and Sam’s Steakhouse Monday night and surprised the team by moving their pregame shootaround Tuesday to veteran guard Buddy Hield’s home.
Hield built a gym behind his Preston Hollow house — a facility so big that Carlisle remembered the parents of some of Abby’s friends wondering if they had to petition against the building of an unregulated neighborhood business — and Carlisle wanted to break up the monotony of NBA arena workouts.”He had a blast with it,” Carlisle said. “It was a beautiful day.”
Just not for birthday-boy Doncic and the Mavericks.
