DALLAS – No one appears to be able to stop the red-hot Dallas Mavericks.
Not even the two-time defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors.
Luka Doncic scored 24 points and Harrison Barnes added 23 points Saturday night, as the Mavs fought their way to a hard-earned 112-109 victory over the Warriors before an American Airlines Center sellout crowd of 20,260. It was the fourth win in a row for the Mavs, who padded their record to 7-8 entering Monday’s game at Memphis.
And even though the Warriors were without all-stars Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, the Mavs celebrated just the same.
“There is a togetherness and a bond that is being built with the guys in the locker room,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “They are really sacrificing for each other and they are really giving themselves up defensively virtually every time down.
“Our ball movement is getting better, but this is no picnic in the Western Conference. They’ve earned the success and progress that they have gained with hard work and sticking together.”
This was not an easy victory for the Mavs. The Warriors, as expected, had control of the game for most of the night until the Mavs buckled up and closed the game on a brisk 9-3 run.
And Doncic was right in the middle of the turnaround for the Mavs. The rookie from Slovenia scored four of the Mavs’ final five points, including a go-ahead floater that gave Dallas the lead for good at 109-108 with 1:10 remaining in the game.
Doncic added a pair of free throws and two critical defensive rebounds as the Mavs snapped a 10-game losing streak to the Warriors.
It was almost as if Doncic had this secret personal battle going with the Warriors. After all, he was the Most Valuable Player of the regular season and the Final Four in the second-best league in the world – the EuroLeague – last season for Real Madrid.
And on Saturday, this was Doncic’s first chance to test his skills against the team that’s roundly known as the best in the world, the Warriors. Doncic wound up 9-of-20 from the field and grabbed a season-high tying nine rebounds while catching the undivided attention of Warriors all-star forward Kevin Durant.
“I like him a lot,” Durant said. “He’s polished, he is skilled and you can tell he played professional basketball already.
“They got a great guy in him to lead this franchise in the future. Him and Dennis Smith Jr. play well together.”
The Mavs employed some serious defense in sending the Warriors (12-5) to their fourth defeat in their last six games. Golden State shot just 44.7 percent from the field and misfired on 24 of its 33 shot attempts from 3-point range.
“When you play a team like that that can make breathtaking plays at virtually any moment, you just have to hang in and keep making playing,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “When we went down six or seven in the second half, everybody on the bench kept encouraging each other.
“We got the crowd back into it with hard and unselfish play and we found a way. Our guys worked incredibly hard to wear on them throughout the game and we made their shots a little more difficult.”
Besides Doncic and Barnes, the Mavs got 14 points and six assists from Smith, and 13 points apiece from Dorian Finney-Smith and J. J. Barea. Also, DeAndre Jordan collected his ninth double-double of the season as he finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Durant led the Warriors with 32 points, Klay Thompson scored 22, Quinn Cook tallied 15 points, Damion Lee popped in 13 points and Shaun Livingston added 12 points.
Doncic scored 12 points as the Mavs busted loose to a 26-22 lead after the first quarter. But the Warriors got the hot hand and led 59-57 at the half.
However, after Golden State assumed a 90-82 lead one minute into the fourth quarter, the Mavs rolled up their sleeves and went to work and did a number on the Warriors during the game’s critical moments.
“I think we stuck together as a team,” Jordan said. “Defense was our No. 1 priority. We know that they’ve got a few guys out, but the guys that they have are amazing scorers, amazing playmakers.
“So we just really wanted to come out and be connected on a string. I felt like we had each other’s back the entire night and that was great.”
