'Digging Deep': Luka Doncic Helps Mavs Overcome in Thrilling Win Over Hawks

Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks were able to keep their positive momentum rolling on Sunday night with a thrilling, hard-fought win over Trae Young the Atlanta Hawks.

Coming off of an impressive come-from-behind win against the Philadelphia 76ers to end a two-game skid, Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks looked to keep the positive momentum rolling against Trae Young and the surging Atlanta Hawks. After battling foul trouble through most of the night, the Mavs were ultimately able to pull out a 103-94 win.

After being called for a very questionable fifth foul at the very beginning of the third quarter, Doncic was forced to sit for pretty much the entire period. However, Dallas was able to dig deep with its reserves and keep the game intact until Doncic was able to return in the final quarter to finish things off.

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Doncic ended up notching the 45th triple-double of his career with 18 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists in just 27 minutes. He shot 6-of-17 from the field and 5-of-6 from the free-throw line.

Out of all the 2018 NBA draftees in the game tonight, Jalen Brunson, who was the 33rd pick in that draft, performed better than any of them. Brunson battled his own foul trouble, but finished with a team-high-tying 22 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field and 4-of-5 from deep. He also grabbed five rebounds and dished out five assists in his 30 minutes of play.

"Never been in that situation before," said head coach Jason Kidd about both Doncic and Brunson dealing with five fouls. "Next man up. Trey [Burke] is next. Frank [Ntilikina], Josh [Green], those guys did a great job in the third quarter keeping it together on the offensive end and defensive end.

Burke came in and played 15 minutes off the bench, finishing with seven points on 3-of-7 shooting.

"It just shows that the coaching staff has done a great job of keeping guys ready when they don't play. I thought Trey was a perfect example of that. He came in and ran the show and kept us going in the right direction."

Reggie Bullock has been on an absolute tear ever since Tim Hardaway Jr. went down with a foot injury that required surgery. That continued in a big way on Sunday night as Bullock put up 22 points of his own while shooting 8-of-14 from the field and 6-of-10 from deep. Bullock hit big shot after big shot in the fourth quarter to help Dallas put this game to bed. Bullock's nine rebounds was second only to Doncic.

“[Trae Young] is a talented player," said Bullock, who defended Young well on the night. "It's just all about trying to disturb him ... He is having a great year. He is an All-Star player. It was just up to us to stick with our defensive scheme and make things tough for him.”

Although Trae Young posted a 17-point, 11-assist double-double, he only shot 6-of-19 from the field in 37 minutes. Atlanta was led by John Collins, who the Mavs are apparently trying to trade for before the NBA trade deadline. Collins finished with a team-high 22 points and 18 rebounds while shooting 10-of-20 from the field. Do the Mavs have enough in the asset cabinet to acquire that kind of frontcourt talent? We only have four more days before we find out.

Next up, the Mavs will take on the Detroit Pistons at American Airlines Center on Tuesday in what will be their fourth game of the current six-game home stand. This one will also be Dallas' final game before the NBA trade deadline buzzer. Pistons' forward Jerami Grant has been connected to the Mavs in trade rumors over the last month, so naturally we'll be looking to see if anything comes of that.


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Dalton Trigg
DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.