Watch Luka Doncic nail clutch 3 for career high as Dallas Mavericks close out Blazers
If the Dallas Mavericks have struggled with anything this season it is closing games out.
There was no wilting Friday night.
Luka Doncic stepped back and hit a 3-pointer with 45 seconds remaining to give the Mavericks the breathing room they needed to hold off the Portland Trail Blazers for a 120-112 win at American Airlines Center.
“We did a great job. They have a lot of fancy players so we did a great job on them,” Doncic said. “We were locked in at the end of the game.”
It’s the Mavs fourth consecutive win. Dallas improved to 27-15. A year ago the Mavs finished with 33 wins.
It was Doncic’s career-high eighth 3-pointer and followed a layup on the previous possession that finally staved off the pesky Blazers.
The Mavs host the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday as part of their two-game, five-day homestand.
Doncic finished with 35 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Doncic was 8 of 12 from the 3-point arc. Dallas was 20 of 47 from long distance as a team. Tim Hardaway Jr. had 29 points and was 5 of 8 from the arc.
After a slow start, the Mavs opened up a sizable lead in the first half behind Doncic’s 23 points, including 6 of 8 from the arc.
Dallas increased its lead to 13 midway through the third quarter. But the Blazers cuts the lead to nine with a buzzer-beating 3 at the end of the third quarter.
Maxi Kleber’s 3-pointer pushed the lead back to 11 with 10 minutes remaining but Portland wouldn’t go away.
The Blazers were led by Damian Lillard’s 34 points and Carmelo Anthony’s 22.
“It was a tough game and good win for us. You dodge bullets all night long with Lillard out there and Anthony was great,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. “I thought the key to the game was our defense got better as it went on. We finally held them to under 25 in the fourth, which we needed to do to get a win. It’s an encouraging game on a lot of levels yet we still did some things we need to improve on.”
This story was originally published January 17, 2020 at 11:14 PM.
