Mark Cuban will go to bed smiling tonight, after Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving became the first Dallas Mavericks duo to each score 40 points in a game in franchise history.
The win, which came by seven points over the Philadelphia 76ers, was Irving’s eighth since signing with Dallas and his sixth alongside Doncic, but the star backcourt pair haven’t exactly had the ideal start to life together. Heading into Thursday’s game they’d lost four of their five games together, each by five points or less. Against Philadelphia, however, the image of Doncic and Irving dominating alongside one another which Cuban and Mavericks fans alike had all imagined came to fruition.
The duo were unstoppable from the outset, with Doncic scoring 17 and Irving 10 in the first quarter of the game. By the time we reached the halfway point, those numbers were up to 25 and 20, and they didn’t slow down there.
By the end of the game, which they won 133-126, Luka Doncic had racked up 42 points on 13-22 shooting (to go with 12 assists, no less), while Kyrie Irving went 15-22 for his 40 points. Both of them lit it up from beyond the arc, Doncic hitting seven of his 13 attempts and Irving six of his eight.
The win was an indication of the potential of this Dallas Mavericks side, who moved two games ahead of .500 at 33-31 with the win. Just a handful of games separating them in sixth from the Trail Blazers in 12th and the Kings in third, and while they won’t be expecting 40 points apiece from their two stars every night, Dallas will need these two firing on all cylinders to hold onto their playoff spot, and ideally avoid the play-in game.
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