Dallas Mavericks rookie Luka Doncic did just about everything he could to lead his team to victory during Thursday's showdown with the Denver Nuggets, collecting 24 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists across his 35 minutes. With the game hanging in the balance after having put his team ahead by one point, Doncic had to watch from the sidelines as Nuggets center Nikola Jokic hit a twirling circus shot at the buzzer to deliver Dallas a seventh straight loss to drop them to 6-28 on the road this year:
Luka's reaction to Jokic's game winner 😨 pic.twitter.com/z2WRdzZ8rz
— ESPN (@espn) March 15, 2019
Doncic admitted after the game that playing in the Mile High City was taxing on his energy, so that's likely part of his deflation as well, but losing a contest the Mavs nearly pried away had to be the more crushing part. Dallas scored just 10 points in the fourth quarter, giving Denver a window to complete the comeback.
Despite the team's losing skid, Doncic has been their leading scorer in seven of their last nine games. His scoring average sits at 21.0 points per game, pitching in 7.4 rebounds and 5.7 assists on a nightly basis, as well. His monster performance Thursday comes on the heels of a bizarre clunker against the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday in which he recorded nine turnovers and shot 1-for-9 from the free-throw line.
As Luka Doncic closes out his first NBA season, he's the leading candidate to be named NBA Rookie of the Year, regardless of what takes place over the next month.
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