Luka Doncic’s monster game lifts Mavericks over Warriors

The Warriors tied their franchise record by making 27 three-pointers, but they couldn’t stop Doncic or Klay Thompson in a 142-133 win

The Golden State Warriors made 27 three-pointers and posted their second-highest point total of the season Sunday night against the Dallas Mavericks. With Luka Doncic on the other team, it didn’t matter.

Doncic had a 45-point triple-double, with 11 rebounds and 13 assists as the Mavericks won a matchup of NBA Cup quarterfinal losers, 143-33. Dallas also got a season-high 29 points from Klay Thompson, as the two teams set an NBA record with 48 combined three-pointers. The old record lasted two whole days, after the Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz combined for 44 threes Friday night.

The Warriors got within five points late in the fourth quarter, but like so many recent games, they forgot how to score late. Despite putting up 133, they didn’t score after Andrew Wiggins made his fifth three-pointer with 2:49 to go. There was a botched alley-oop from Draymond Green, two badly-missed three-point attempts from Curry, and Wiggins even stepped out of bounds.

You know who wasn’t missing shots in the 4th quarter? Klay Thompson.

Part of Doncic’s huge game was made by finding Thompson, who shot 7-for-11 from behind the arc. Four of those came off of passes from Doncic, who delivered five of his 13 assists to the former Warrior, who celebrated in front of owner Joe Lacob after one late triple.

Wiggins led the Warriors with 29 points, while Curry finished with 26 points and 11 assists, making seven threes. Jonathan Kuminga had 20 points and six assists and Lindy Waters had 12 points on four made threes. Draymond Green had 21 points and seven rebounds off the bench, a role Steve Kerr might rethink after the Mavericks’ hot start.

The Mavericks jumped out to a 23-11 lead to start the game, thanks to making their first nine field goal attempts. Their first miss of the game was on a Kyrie Irving free throw, but Dallas didn’t miss until Doncic’s 31-footer 4:47 into the game — which Kyrie Irving rebounded and found Klay Thompson for a three-pointer. Doncic had 13 points, two assists, and a steal in that opening run.

Dallas got their lead up to 35-16 with 4:35 left in the quarter, but that’s when Draymond Green made his bid for membership in the Splash Brothers. He drilled three three-pointers in 84 seconds, thrilling the crowd and inspiring Brandin Podziemski and Steph Curry to bury their own triples on the next two possessions.

The Mavericks finished their 46-point first quarter with a three-pointer from Quentin Grimes, who scored the final eight points of the period for Dallas. Dallas shot 68% for the first quarter.

Golden State came back with a 41-point second quarter that got them back in the game. They set a franchise record by making 18 three-pointers in the half, which included four each from Green and Curry. They almost got a three-point play when Trayce Jackson-Davis was fouled by Dereck Lively on a dunk, but he couldn’t complete it with the freebie.

Green’s fourth three of the half cut the lead to five, and after two Doncic free throws, the Mavericks went into the half up 81-74.

In the fourth quarter, NBC Sports Bay Area came back from a timeout with an odd glitch, where a small snippet kept repeating over and over. The broadcast came back, albeit out of focus, and then the glitch began repeating. At that point, the broadcast went to commercial, despite game action continuing. Bob Fitzgerald may not have been aware, but no one acknowledged or explained what happened.

It was an impressive offensive performance, until the final three minutes. Perhaps the arrival of new Warrior Dennis Schroder can help, but right now, the Warriors won’t be serving coffee in the locker room. Coffee’s for closers.