,” teammate Tim Hardaway Jr. said. “He’s doing a great job playing with the utmost confidence.”Doncic had 22 points, five assists and five rebounds in the first quarter alone.“I see (the stats), but I don’t know what to say,” Doncic said. “It’s great to read about. I just enjoy the basketball.”The Mavericks tied a franchise record with 22 3-pointers while sending Golden State to its worst loss since a 1973 playoff game.“Flush it down the toilet,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said when asked what his team can take away from the game. “Literally, you just move on. You don’t take anything from a game like this.”Rookie Eric Paschall led the Warriors with 22 points.Tim Hardaway Jr. added 20 for Dallas. Kristaps Porzingis had 14 points and 10 rebounds for his fourth-straight double-double.WOUNDED WARRIORSThe Warriors are an NBA-worst 3-13. Their five-year run of at the top of the NBA has collapsed under a weight of injuries, with Draymond Green out Wednesday because of right heel soreness.With Green out, Golden State dressed only eight players, none of whom suited up for the team last season when it made the NBA Finals for the fifth consecutive year.Kerr could at least find humor in the Warriors’ result.“Tough to lose by 48 points, but a break here or there and it only would have been 42 points,” Kerr said, then paused and added, “Nobody caught the sarcasm? I was trying to be funny.”SUPERNOVASPaschall, Warriors teammate Omari Spellman and the Mavs’ Jalen Brunson all started for Villanova during their run to the 2018 national championship. All finished in double figures on Wednesday, with Brunson scoring 15 on a perfect 6-for-6 shooting night. Spellman had 11 for Golden State.“It’s always great playing against all my Villanova guys,” said Paschall, holding Brunson’s Dallas jersey that his former teammate had given him after the game. “It proves what Coach (Jay) Wright has done.”HARDAWAY MAKES IT LOOK EASYHardaway got the start in place of Seth Curry, who was ill, and he took advantage of the assignment, tying his season high with 20 points.“I just wanted to see a couple go in,” Hardaway said. “I wanted to go in there and make a presence for myself and for the team.”TIP-INSWarriors: One of the few things that went the Warriors' way was when coach Steve Kerr challenged a defensive foul call on Willie Cauley-Stein with 1:56 left in the first half, and the call was reversed into an offensive foul on Dallas' Dwight Powell.Mavericks: Dallas previously made 22 3s in a game twice, the last time in February against Milwaukee.UP NEXTWarriors: At Utah on Friday night.Mavericks: Host Cleveland on Friday night.---More NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
Nov 20, 2019Luka Doncic and Draymond Green, two of the NBA's most frequent triple-double performers in recent seasons, go head-to-head for the first time this year when the Dallas Mavericks host the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night.Doncic flirted with LeBron James-created history on Monday in Dallas' 117-110 home win over the San Antonio Spurs as he logged his league-leading sixth triple-double of the season.What made this one particularly memorable was that Doncic scored 42 points, becoming the second-youngest player in NBA history to record a triple-double that included a 40-point effort.Like Doncic, James accomplished the feat at age 20, but LeBron was five months younger.Doncic got the better of James in one area, however, as his youthful triple-double featured 42 points, whereas James scored 40 on his historic night in April 2005."This guy can do anything he wants to on a basketball court," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said Monday of Doncic. "He's having one of those magical runs right now. It's a phenomenal thing to watch. It's a phenomenal thing to be a part of." With Doncic leading the way, the Mavericks have opened a heavyweight-laden, four-game homestand with two straight wins.The victories came over the reigning NBA champion Toronto Raptors on Saturday and the 2014 champion San Antonio Spurs on Monday.The other two teams to have claimed titles since 2014 -- three-time champ Golden State and 2016 winner Cleveland -- complete the homestand in the next three days.Like the Raptors and Spurs before them, the Warriors and Cavaliers will see that the Mavericks feature more than just Doncic.Big man Kristaps Porzingis, after sitting out last season with an ACL injury and beginning this year with just one double-double in Dallas' first 10 games, has come on strong in the team's past three contests, recording a double-double in each.He had 20 points and 15 rebounds in the Mavericks' Saturday win over Toronto, then complemented Doncic's triple-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds against the Spurs.The Warriors will be seeking their first winning streak of the season when they complete a back-to-back in Dallas.Thanks to Green's near-triple-double, Golden State dispatched the host Memphis Grizzlies 114-95 on Tuesday.Green contributed eight points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists to the win, just missing what would have been his second triple-double of the season.The Warriors' defensive standout has 23 triple-doubles in his career. Doncic, who is in just his second season, has totaled 14.Green insisted the Tuesday victory, which snapped a seven-game losing streak, was more about team defense than any of his numbers."We came in fighting," he said. ""We've been talking about improving our defense. We got stops at the start of the game, and we were able to get our tempo and we kept the game at our pace." Green and Doncic went head-to-head three times last season, with Doncic getting the only triple-double -- 23 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in a win at Golden State in March.Green had an earlier double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds in a December home win.--Field Level Media
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