The Dallas Mavericks and Golden State Warriors met in a widely anticipated matchup between two of the best gunslingers in the West, with Luka Doncic and Steph Curry. Doncic lit up the Golden State Warriors for 39 points in a 133-103 blowout and outgunned Curry, who tallied just 27 points in an ugly defeat.
The Warriors fell behind early in the first half after they went nearly 10 minutes without scoring a single point. The Mavericks unleashed a 28-0 run spanning the first and second quarters, and the Warriors never recovered.
At one point, the Mavericks opened a 43-point lead in the second half. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr threw up the surrender flag early in the fourth quarter and both coaches emptied their benches. It’s rare to see a full quarter of garbage time in the NBA, but that’s what happened last night.
“Biggest game of the year and it was over before it started,” said a dejected Kerr.
“It was the perfect storm of everything going wrong tonight,” said Curry.
Dallas couldn’t miss from long range as the Mavericks connected on 18-for-35 3-pointers. “They came out like it was a playoff game,” added Kerr. “We came out like it was an exhibition.”
The Warriors (31-31) fell back to .500, but still sit in the #10 seed, which would qualify them for a spot in the play-in tournament. The Mavericks (34-27) sit in the #6 seed and lead the Warriors by 3.5-games.
Luka Time
If both Doncic and Curry were still on the court in the fourth quarter, they might have tallied more points. Regardless, Doncic dropped 39 points in only 28 minutes of floor time, which is an impressive feat. He was on pace for a 50-point game had he logged his usual minutes.
Doncic shot 15-for-23 from the floor, including 4-for-10 from downtown. He added eight assists and six rebounds in just 28 minutes of action.
Doncic improved his scoring average to 28.6 points per game for the Mavericks this season. He’s ranked #3 overall in the NBA, trailing Curry and Bradley Beal. Doncic also averages 8.7 assists per game. He’s ranked #3 in assists this season and #8 in PER with a 26.17 rating.
Doncic scored 30-plus in four out of his previous six games.
Curry Rains in April: 90 Treys
Curry recently set a new NBA record for most 3-pointers in a single month. He added five more 3-pointers and has now knocked down 90 treys in April. James Harden previously held the record with 82 treys, which he set back in 2019.
Curry would love for April to continue. He’s averaging 37.3 ppg this month with a dozen games in which he scored 30-plus points. He’s also shooting a torrid 46.7% from 3-point range since the start of April. He posted four games this past month where he knocked down at least 10 3-pointers in a game.
However, Curry couldn’t find his rhythm last night against the Mavericks. He shot 9-for-18 from the floor and 5-for-9 from 3-point range in just 30 minutes of floor time. Even if Curry had a 50-point night for the Warriors, it wouldn’t have been enough to defeat the high-octane Mavericks.
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