Luka Doncic of Mavs has historic 60-20-10 game
Another night, another game where the New York Knicks come up with a new way to get ahead late in the game. The Knicks suffered a heartbreaking loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday’s NBA slate in overtime, 126-121.
The fact that the game even got to overtime is shocking, as the Knicks held a nine-point lead with 33 seconds left before storming back to tie it and eventually win in overtime.
Despite the epic collapse at the end, it was an overall spirited effort from a very small Knicks team. Jalen Brunson was unable to play due to a hip injury and RJ Barrett played for a minute before going to the locker room with a laceration to his finger and being announced for the game.
That led to heavy minutes for Immanuel Quickley, Deuce McBride, Quentin Grimes and Julius Randle, all playing more than 45 minutes in the game. Tom Thibodeau did not extend the bench after Barrett’s injury as Cam Reddish and Evan Fournier never got into the game despite players looking excited.
LATEST NBA NEWS: Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks & New York Knicks Updates
New York received some excellent performances from their boys, but nothing compared to what Luka Doncic did for the Mavericks. Grimes was tasked with slowing him down throughout the game and failed to do so.
“I promise I definitely tried,” said Grimes. “I mean, I’m trying to get over every pick and roll. He’s in almost every action. It took a lot of effort for me to get over every pick and roll with him. He is cunning with the ball, without the ball. Must know where he is on the field at all times. He is one of the top three players in the league for a reason. I should definitely take my hat off.”
This game will go down in NBA history for the lead the Knicks blew, but also for Doncic’s individual performance. He finished the game with 60 points, 21 rebounds, 10 assists, two steals and one block. It is the first 60/20/10 game in NBA history and also set multiple career highs and franchise records.
Head coach Jason Kidd put in some monster performances during his Hall of Fame career, but he was impressed, as was everyone else who witnessed what Doncic was able to accomplish Tuesday night.
“I know, everyone is still in shock. He always does [something new]. He’s special,” Kidd said. “The history of the game has been written by the players and it has been rewritten tonight for a player – Luka – doing something that has never been done before. It’s hard to do – there have been some great players before him. As we walked in, Elgin Baylor, I think Wilt [Chamberlain] – he was in that class and then he split off and made his own class, which is pretty cool.
LATEST NBA NEWS: Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks & New York Knicks Updates
A big reason why Doncic was able to keep the Mavericks in the game and eventually get the win was how many times he got to the foul line. He attempted 22 free throws in the game, while the Knicks attempted only 24 as a team. New York head coach Tom Thibodeau credited Doncic for his performance, but was critical of his team’s defensive performance.
“He’s a monster player. There are some plays where I thought he made good plays and was aggressive. But you can’t keep fouling a guy and giving 22 free throws,” said Thibodeau. “We keep talking about verticality and being limited, but we keep whacking all the time.Until we fix that, it’s going to cost us.”
LATEST NBA NEWS: Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks & New York Knicks Updates
This is the second truly inexplicable loss the Knicks have suffered against the Mavericks this season. On December 3, New York built a lead of no less than 15 points in the first half, but trailed by a whopping 32 points and eventually lost 121-100.
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