In his last outing, Luka Doncic delivered perhaps the best first-half performance of his career, passed Larry Bird on the all-time triple-doubles list and led the Dallas Mavericks to a 50-point win.
That’s quite the trio of accomplishments to match as Doncic and the Mavericks visit the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night.
Doncic had a 29-point triple-double at halftime of Wednesday’s 147-97 home thrashing of the Utah Jazz. Overall, he had 40 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds for his 60th career triple-double, one more than legendary Hall of Famer Bird had in his stellar career.
Flying past Bird was a surreal moment for the 24-year-old Doncic.
“Pretty amazing,” Doncic told reporters. “I don’t know what to say, honestly. We all know who Larry Bird was, so it’s pretty special.”
It marked the fourth 40-point output of the season for Doncic, with two coming in his past three appearances.
The one-sided contest led to Doncic sitting out the final quarter, ending a superb effort that led teammate Tim Hardaway to have visions of crazier numbers.
“Luka set the tone with that, knocking down shot after shot after shot … after shot after shot after shot,” Hardaway said. “I thought he was going to go 50-20-20.”
Dallas coach Jason Kidd made note of the headband Doncic wore while racking up numbers on a night the Mavericks established a season best for points.
“I think he’s had a lot of fun this season,” Kidd said of Doncic. “He’s competing, he’s having fun and the energy was extremely high. And I think the headband works.”
Kyrie Irving added 26 points while also sitting out the final stanza of a victory that tied for third largest in Mavericks history. The larger ones are the franchise-record 53-point victory (123-70) over the Philadelphia 76ers on Nov. 13, 2014 and a 51-point rout (124-73) of the Los Angeles Clippers on Dec. 27, 2020.
The Trail Blazers have dropped their past two games after winning three of their previous four.
Portland fell 110-106 at the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday. The Trail Blazers let an 11-point lead get away.
Anfernee Simons played for the first time since injuring his right thumb in the season opener against the Los Angeles Clippers. He scored 28 points and made six 3-pointers, but was just 10 of 27 overall from the field.
“Just trying to find our rhythm back,” Simons said afterward. “I think there’s going to be a little adjustment period with me coming back. You could tell that in the fourth quarter we didn’t have that cohesiveness with what we wanted to do. We’ll just figure that out the next couple of games.”
Shaedon Sharpe had a solid game with 26 points, six rebounds, five assists, four 3-pointers and just one turnover in 42 minutes.
“Shaedon is developing fast,” Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said. “He’s starting to see the game and see what’s going on out there. He’s making better reads, most nights. His defense has gotten better.”
Portland sustained a blow when guard Malcolm Brogdon (knee) departed after 13 scoreless minutes. He was listed as questionable for Friday’s game with right knee soreness.
The Trail Blazers also were without forward Jerami Grant (concussion) and center DeAndre Ayton (knee). Grant won’t play Friday, while Ayton was listed as doubtful.
Dallas will be without forward Grant Williams (knee) for the second straight game.
Portland has won the past two meetings after the Mavericks won the previous six.
–Field Level Media
