Mavericks All-NBA point guard Luka Doncic knows how lethal he and backcourt mate Kyrie Irving can be when they’re both firing on all cylinders, writes Mark Medina of Sportsnaut.
“Some days, one is going to have a good game,” Doncic said of the All-Star twosome. “Some days, others are going to have a good game… But when we play both at our best, it’s tough to stop us. Hopefully we can get that to that next game.”
To wit, Medina notes that Dallas is scoring at an average clip of 119.1 points per 100 possessions in 21 games, across 479 Doncic’s and Irving’s minutes together. Doncic is notching a career-high 33.6 PPG on a .485/.376/.778 shooting line, plus 9.2 APG and 8.3 RPG, while Irving is averaging 25.3 PPG on .473/.410/.893 shooting, along with 5.4 APG and 5.0 RPG.
At 24-18, the Mavericks are firmly ensconced in the Western Conference playoff hunt, but seem to be a tier below the best of the West.
There’s more out of the Lone Star State:
- Rockets center Alperen Sengun is quietly making a legitimate case for All-Star consideration this season, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. “He’s so skilled,” Houston point guard Fred VanVleet told Bontemps. “He’s unguardable. He’s got a thousand moves. He’s learning the higher aspects of the game now that he’s going to be a featured guy and probably be an All-Star this year.” As the best player on the 20-21 Rockets, Sengun is averaging career highs of 21.9 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 4.9 APG, and 1.2 SPG.
- Rockets power forward Jabari Smith Jr. suffered a sprained ankle Saturday night during the club’s 127-126 overtime victory over the Jazz, per Kelly Iko of The Athletic (Twitter link). Iko notes that a return timeline for Smith is unclear at present, but the 6’11” big man has been ruled out for tonight’s matchup against the Celtics, according to the NBA’s latest injury report
- Spurs rookie center Victor Wembanyama has been playing on a minutes limit since spraining his right ankle three times in December. He has also been held out of one game in back-to-back sets. While head coach Gregg Popovich indicated that Wembanyama will be held to his current restriction of 27 minutes per contest at least through Monday, he hinted that things could change once San Antonio’s road trip concludes, as Andrew Lopez of ESPN relays. The Spurs will host the Thunder on Wednesday.