TThree quarters were enough for Luka Doncic to destroy Victor Wembanyama’s orphaned Spurs. The French prodigy suffered a sprained ankle in the warm-up and did not play. The Mavericks took advantage of it to sweep 144-119. If the Spurs are little, without their star…
Doncic had 39 points (5/10 on three-pointers), 12 rebounds and 10 assists in just 32 minutes. It was his sixth triple-double of the season and the thirty-sixth with at least 30 points, leaving him one behind LeBron James in third place in that ranking. “It means a lot to be so close to him. We all know who he is, what he is doing in his 21st season in the NBA. It’s incredible,” said the Slovenian about who precedes him.
The Spurs did not want to take risks with Wembanyama, who was already suffering from problems with his right ankle and had already missed a game. If he had played, it would have been with a minutes restriction. “If it was a playoff game, I probably would have played it. He’s not happy about it, but I prefer to err on the conservative side,” Gregg Popovich explained. It was one more night in an already lost season for San Antonio, which has 22 losses in the last 23 games.
The Mavericks had two good performances in Tim Hardaway Jr. (23 points with five triples) and Dante Exum (20). They snapped a three-game losing streak, some of them without Doncic and Kyrie Irving. The point guard is still out, as are rookie center Dereck Lively II and Maxi Kleber. “We still have some injuries, so we have to stay together and have a good mentality,” recommended Doncic, who is 11 points away from reaching 10,000 in his NBA career.
