The Trail Blazers were able to eke out a 121-118 overtime win over the scuffling Mavs in Portland, handing Dallas its sixth straight loss and reminding them of the difficulty of sustained excellence in the Western Conference.
While Dallas wasn’t able to pull off the mild upset on the road, succumbing to the 55 combined points of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, they did get another reminder of the special talent they have in rookie Luka Doncic. Doncic had 23 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists in the loss, once again asserting himself against a quality Western Conference opponent.
Included in that 23 point performance was an absurd three-pointer to force overtime with 0.6 seconds to play, as he faded out of bounds in the corner and launched a wild rainbow shot that found nothing but the bottom of the net.
LUKA HIT AN IMPOSSIBLE SHOT WITH .6 SECONDS LEFT #SCtop10 pic.twitter.com/oPPhJCz48m
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 24, 2018
The best part is DeAndre Jordan’s reaction to the rookie’s heroics as he strolled back to the Mavs bench.
https://twitter.com/WorldWideWob/status/1077059311107477504
Unfortunately for Dallas they weren’t able to capitalize on that effort from Doncic in the overtime period, as the Blazers pulled out the win. Still, the goal for Dallas this year was to take a major step forward and be competitive again in the West. While it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster ride in the standings, with hot and cold streaks defining their season to this point, at 15-17 they’re just two games out of a playoff position despite this six game losing streak.
The bigger positive is it seems abundantly clear they have a star in Doncic, the question is simply what level of star is he — an All-Star caliber player or a transcendent star that can eventually carry a team through a deep postseason run. We won’t know the answer to that for many years — remember how long it took Dirk Nowitzki to lift the Mavs to a title — but every moment like this is a reminder to Mavs fans that not all losses are created equal and sometimes you just chalk it up to the tight margin of error in the West and enjoy the spectacular moment even in defeat.
