Slovenian point guard Luka Doncic approached the triple-double and led the Dallas Mavericks to a 93-104 road win over the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday who broke a four-game winning streak. While Rick Carlisle of the Mavericks became the 16th coach in NBA history to win 800 games as a professional.
The Mavericks have won four games in a row after starting the championship with a losing record of 2-4. Doncic had 34 points 13 rebounds and nine assists, to which he added four blocks (his personal best in the NBA) and two steals for the Mavericks, being once again the player who decided the triumph of the Texan team that now has a record. from 6-4. With these numbers, Luka Doncic was one assist away from achieving triple-double number 28 in his NBA career.
that would have allowed him to reach Michael Jordan, owner of the Hornets, in 26th place in the historical classification of triple-doubles achieved in the league. Forward Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 18 points and Latvian center Kristaps Porzingis added 16 points on his return from a right knee injury. Porzingis played for the first time since he underwent surgery last October so that doctors could repair the torn meniscus in his right knee. Carlisle, as he had anticipated kept Porzingis under the protocol of a “range of minutes in which he hopes Porzingis can play and adapt to the competition without running any risk of suffering some kind of physical problem. After the game played against the Hornets Carlisle who gave him 21 minutes as a starter said he was very satisfied with the way he responded and reacted on the field.
Porzingis made 6 of 16 shots from the field including 4 of 9 triples without going to the personnel line, by not looking too much for physical contact under the hoops although he captured four defensive rebounds put up two blocks, and committed three personal fouls. It was a good experience because I felt good and also helped the team to win and stay on the winning path Porzingis commented at the end of the match. Now, I hope to go more as I have minutes on the field.
Porzingis highlighted the good rapport he had immediately with the rest of the teammates and the way he communicated with Carlisle to assure him that everything was going well during the time he was on the field. The Hornets (6-6), who had come into the game fired up, could never handle the Mavericks best offensive game but above all, they couldn’t find a way to control Doncic’s individual actions, which were what ultimately made the difference. .Guard Terry Rozier, who scored 18 points finished as the top scorer for the Hornets, who as a team had just 38 (38-100) percent shooting from the field and 26 (10-38)% from outside of the perimeter.
Power forward PJ Washington added a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds as the leader of the Hornets’ inside the game while forward Gordon Hayward lost the individual duel with Doncic by finishing with another 16 points but far from his best production. individual.
