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Luka Doncic has just had his eighth game above 30 points. In that hot streak, he was absent for one night.
The reason: the birth of Gabriela, his first-born daughter. A baby can turn anyone’s life upside down, but the Dallas Mavericks point guard has been doing just fine.
In the five games since becoming a father, he has averaged 35.2 points, 8.8 rebounds, 12.4 assists and Dallas has strung together four straight wins. Between nappies and bottles, the Slovenian star is doing great.
Nor is he suffering from the overexertion forced on him by the absence of Kyrie Irving. In four of those five games he has spent more than 40 minutes on the court.
Against the Lakers, in the second game in consecutive nights, he was doubtful until the last minute with a lower back contusion.
“I don’t know how I played. I didn’t get much sleep. Everything hurts. I’m getting old,” he joked after the 127-125 victory.
Doncic was outstanding, scoring 33 points and dishing out 17 assists. He is the NBA‘s second-leading scorer with an average of 32.0 points per game, second only to Joel Embiid, and the fourth-best assist man with 8.9 assists.
But he focuses on the collective: “We got two wins in a row [after the win over the Grizzlies], which is amazing, especially against a team like the Lakers. I’m very proud of these guys.”
At the end of the game, the point guard was talking to LeBron James. They defended each other in a terrifying duel (33+8+9 for the Lakers’ James), but after the games they often show admiration for each other. The Mavericks star took home an autographed jersey of the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.
The difficulty of playing against Doncic
“Any time you play against a guy like Luka, who is so talented and so good at passing the ball, but obviously he also scores, it becomes difficult,” explained Lakers point guard Austin Reaves, who also praised the play of Dante Exum. The former Barcelona and Partizan player hit a season-high 26 points and seven three-pointers, five of them in the final quarter.
Doncic assisted the Australian player on four of those four in the final period. One of them came after the point guard managed to get the ball millimetres past Jaxson Hayes.
“I didn’t expect that pass to come, so I was glad I made the shot. It means that Luka trusts me,” said Exum, who took advantage of his teammate’s foresight, even more so since he has become a father. Gabriela arrived with points and assists under her arm.
