When Luka Doncic smiles, Dallas usually does. The Slovenian touched the triple-double last night in the visit to Canada and the Mavericks recovered from the painful loss against Atlanta to come back and beat the Raptors 93-105.
It was not a brilliant game, but it was one in which the Texans were seen to take a step forward in defense, something that in recent seasons was almost anecdotal. They got off to a bad start, so much so that they were down 16-2 after six minutes of play. They did not despair. They rowed and midway through the third quarter they got ahead (62-64). They did not lose the leadership in the match again until time ran out.
“Our defense was not the best in the first half, but in the second half we were together and we recovered, not like in the first game. I think that was the key, “says Doncic, who went to 27 points, 12 assists and 9 rebounds.
The Slovenian star was good, and also had the accompaniment of the double-double of Kristaps Porzingis (18 points and 10 rebounds) and the outside success of Tim Hardaway Jr., who with seven triples went up to 25 points. The shooting guard credits the moral work Jason Kidd did after the opening night loss.
“The coach told us before the game: ‘The great teams do not lose two in a row, but find a way to win, especially in difficult situations. We just wanted to make sure we finished strong and played hard on both ends of the court. We did not want to have anything to reproach ourselves with after the game.
Toronto, second night of back-to-back
The Raptors closed their first back-to-back of the season, and maybe it weighed on their legs. OG Anunoby was the leading scorer with 23 points, but practically all of them made it in the first half. Fred VanVleet also had a remarkable performance with 20 points, but it was insufficient. Nick Nurse thinks it was a night for the bench to step forward; however, the substitutes remained at 13 points.
“These are the nights when we really need our bank to provide some power. Playing at home, with back-to-back games … they really need to give us something and I think it was not like that, “says the head coach.
(Photograph by Cole Burston / Getty Images)