DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks are more than Luka Dončić.
Tuesday’s 127-125 win against the Los Angeles Lakers — on the second night of a back-to-back, with two starters (Kyrie Irving, Derrick Jones Jr.) and two rotation players (Maxi Kleber, Josh Green) absent — was an unlikely time to show it. Dallas, now 15-8 and third in the Western Conference, succeeds thanks to Dončić’s nightly brilliance. He had played 44 minutes on Monday to beat the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday, and he tallied another 43 against the Lakers, his fourth game in the past playing 40-plus minutes. He often looked fatigued and shot more inefficiently (12-of-28) than has been typical this season.
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An exhausted Dončić is still better than most any other player: 33 points, 17 assists, yet another impossible pass made from behind his defender’s back. His short floater with 2:09 remaining in the game gave Dallas what would’ve been the decisive two-possession lead, notwithstanding a meaningless buzzer-beating 3 from LeBron James. Those two had an extended conversation after the final buzzer; Dončić, who has literally begun his career on the same statistical trajectory as James did, has previously said he has no desire to replicate the 38-year-old’s longevity. But at age 24, he’ll be on it for a lot longer still.
What James learned early in his career is what Dončić did last season in Dallas’ miserable 38-win campaign: That no matter how good these glorious ball-dominant players are, no matter how many 3s they invent for their teammates and lobs they precisely hurl to their hands, they still must rely on them. James has suffered through many seasons where the teammates around him weren’t good enough. Now Dončić has, too.
It was obvious early last season. (Jalen Brunson leaving for nothing didn’t help.) The Mavericks, under new front office management led by Nico Harrison, who was hired in 2021, tried to rectify the situation by trading for James’ old running mate Kyrie Irving at the 2023 trade deadline. But the teammates around them weren’t enough and the depth suffered. This season, only six players who began on last year’s roster remained.
Dončić still hasn’t been allowed to beat opponents by himself. “Luka has to lead the league in double-teams,” Jason Kidd said afterwards. “He’s being doubled for the majority of games.” According to Second Spectrum data acquired by The Athletic, Kidd’s right: Dončić has been blitzed in pick-and-roll situations — i.e., both defenders doubling him — 140 times already this year. That’s a staggering amount, and more than twice as many times as Cade Cunningham, the player who comes in second (62).
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“It’s a compliment,” Kidd said. “He’s one of the best in the world. I think he has absorbed that about being double-teamed. He’s a competitor, he wants to win, sometimes he gets frustrated because someone might miss a shot or turn the ball over, but I think you can see his maturity has gotten better because he knows that his teammates are trying to do the right thing. It’s a lot of beautiful things happening right now.”
On Tuesday, it was Dante Exum, a former lottery pick the Mavericks signed this summer to a minimum deal after he spent two seasons playing in Spain and Turkey. After playing double-digit minutes in just one of the team’s first eight games, Exum has built an increasingly larger role. Since joining the starting lineup four games ago, he’s averaging nearly 33 minutes per game as a slashing connector. On Tuesday, the Lakers schemed to leave him open, testing the main weakness that caused his two-year absence from the NBA: 3-point shooting.
“(They) played the percentages,” Kidd said.
Exum responded by scoring 26 points while knocking down seven 3s in nine attempts. “Tonight was his best game,” Dončić said. While Dončić can show frustration when teammates miss shots, especially open ones that come as a result of good offensive execution, he trusted Exum with those passes no differently than he trusts the team’s best spot-up shooter, Tim Hardaway Jr., who had 32 points of his own.
“It started in Los Angeles,” Exum said of the Lakers’ leave-him-open strategy, referencing a Nov. 22 game that was Dallas’ first meeting against the Lakers this season. Since then, Exum has been guarded by roaming centers and wings happy to sag off of him. “Knowing how (Dončić) plays, how he can find anyone at any time, and how he’s going to be doubled, I’ve got to be ready,” Exum continued. “I don’t want to be the guy who gets taken out because I can’t hit that shot.”
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Even when Dončić finds him when unexpectedly on some shenanigans like this pass below.
How?!
Luka wraps the pass around the defender 😲
📺 Lakers-Mavs | Live on TNT pic.twitter.com/UzeW9Xsa7E
— NBA (@NBA) December 13, 2023
“I did not expect that pass to come, and so I’m just glad I hit it,” Exum said.
Exum might have been the standout storyline after Tuesday’s game, but he’s symbolic of a roster far deeper than last year’s. Dereck Lively II, the rookie center who has started all but one game for which he’s been available, is another. He’s been showing new aspects of his offensive game on a weekly basis: first his lob threat ability, then his offensive rebounding, then his fairly advanced passing for a big man. Two weeks ago against the Oklahoma City Thunder, he showed an ability to take one dribble and finish at the rim, an exceptionally useful skill to have given how often Dončić is doubled after Lively screens.
Against the Lakers, Lively showed another more controlled manner with which he can score from those situations, even if it comes over James.
Grant Williams, likewise, had his own moment against James after attacking a closeout and finishing a short jumper over him. In his return to the starting lineup after missing three games with knee soreness, Williams had 19 points while hitting 5-of-7 from behind the arc. He’s another one of the team’s new additions who is making life easier for Dončić. Jones Jr., another minimum signing from the summer, remains absent, but can be expected to slot back into the starting lineup once he returns.
Sometimes, Dončić still does need to do it himself. He’s orchestrating the Mavericks’ offense even when he’s being doubled so frequently, allowing it to hum in four-on-three situations when he needs to while taking over when the opportunity arises. Because he can, because he’s that good, because why wouldn’t you call your own number when you can do things like this against James and Anthony Davis?
Spin into a step-back 3? 😳
A little Luka magic!
📺 Lakers-Mavs | Live on TNT pic.twitter.com/awAx8ttb2U
— NBA (@NBA) December 13, 2023
But Dončić has received more help this season, which is a needed reprieve for a player who has been expected to do far too much for this team since his arrival in 2018. And that’s why the Mavericks’ somewhat surprising success has continued all season.
(Top photo: Tim Heitman / Getty Images)
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