Dallas Mavs Film Study: How Luka Doncic Picked Apart Brooklyn Nets For 49-Point Masterclass

DallasBasketball.com takes a closer look at the 49-point performance Luka Doncic provided the Mavs in their win over the Nets.

DALLAS — During the Dallas Mavericks' 125-120 victory over the Brooklyn Nets in their home opener, Luka Doncic delivered another incredible performance. He finished with 49 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists in 36 minutes, with a pivotal one-handed hook from 3-point range to beat the shot clock stealing the show. 

Doncic's big shot gave the Mavs a 123-120 lead with under 30 seconds left. Had it not fallen, the team would have been tied with the Nets having possession. Instead, Doncic pulled off a miracle, and Dallas went on to win.

“I don’t know. I saw there were two or three seconds left [on the shot clock] and just knew I had to put it up and touch the rim so that we would have a chance of reloading [the clock],” Doncic said. 

“There was a lot of magic in the air, man. That shot was crazy," Mavs superstar Kyrie Irving said of Doncic's late-game shot. "I was going in to crash the offensive glass, and I was like, ‘Man this has a chance.’ I was just following it, and what a night for Luka, what a night for our team. Not necessarily guarding the Nets as good as we wanted, not paying attention to the game plan as well as we would have wanted, but to leave out of here, home floor, first [home] game of the season with a win feels good.”

Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic against the Brooklyn Nets / Andrew Dieb-USA TODAY Sports

With Nic Claxton sidelined due to injury, the Nets started Dorian Finney-Smith and deployed him and Ben Simmons in a small ball center role for much of the game. The Nets entered the game focused on not allowing Doncic and Irving to see drop coverage when playing out of pick-and-roll. Instead, they focused on switching and Doncic often picked it apart, getting mismatches he wanted.

A breakdown of Doncic's full performance is included in the embedded YouTube video below. Subscribe to my channel for more content about Doncic and the Mavs throughout the season.

Doncic shot 9-14 from beyond the arc, which set a new single-game career-high for made 3s. He achieved his 14th game with at least 40 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists, which ties Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the seventh most in NBA history. He has tied Tracy McGrady for the seventh-most most games with 40 or more points before turning 25 with 30 of these performances.

The Mavs return to action on Monday after taking on the Memphis Grizzlies at FedEx Forum. Ja Morant remains suspended, while Steven Adams, Santi Aldama, Brandon Clarke, and Luke Kennard missed Saturday's game against the Washington Wizards due to injuries.