Mavs' Luka Doncic & Kyrie Irving Dominate in Rout of Trail Blazers

Mavs superstars Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving led a dominant victory over the Trail Blazers on Wednesday night, beginning a seven-game homestand.

DALLAS — Led by the dominant play of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, the Dallas Mavericks accomplished a 126-97 rout of the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night. The Mavs improved to 20-15 on the season, while the Blazers dropped to 9-24 resulting from the loss. 

Coming off a loss against the Utah Jazz, the Mavs sought a bounce-back performance and accomplished it to kick off a seven-game homestand with momentum in their favor. The two superstars combined for 70 points to set the tone without needing to return for the fourth quarter. Doncic totaled 41 points, six rebounds, and five assists. Irving added 29 points, nine rebounds, and five assists.

"I thought, great response to what happened in Utah," Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. "Just what we talked about this morning, and be focused. I thought the ball movement was great, and defensively, it was really, really good. Locked-in performances by our two stars to get us started, and Kyrie didn't wait tonight. He was aggressive. And then Luka was Luka."

With Dante Exum sidelined due to a right heel contusion, the Mavs deployed Josh Green in a starting wing role. It didn't prevent Dallas from getting off to a strong start, opening the game with a 9-0 lead as Portland focused on blitzing Doncic in ball screen coverages. Dallas had a few transition scores, including a pull-up 3-pointer for Irving. Doncic often got where he wanted using his size advantage, emphasizing attacking the paint for finishes. They set the tone early. 

Doncic spent a fair amount of possessions off-ball early, with Irving initiating, considering the emphasis on pressuring the Slovenian superstar. These efforts included leveraging Doncic as the back-screener in Stack pick-and-roll, drawing attention to free up Irving for a pull-up 3-pointer. 

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Even with Irving off the floor midway through the opening period, Doncic was initially deployed off-ball as the team emphasized playing faster. Portland struggled to keep mismatches off of Doncic, even when the ball found him at the top of the offense after an early push before attacking the rim. 

The Blazers frequently turned the ball over early, proving unable to generate much of a consistent advantage in the half-court, but managed to tighten up on both ends, cutting the Mavs' advantage to just 27-21 as of a timeout at the 2:49 mark. Doncic went cold for a stretch along the way, attacking in isolation and allowing Portland the chance to make up some ground after trailing by as many as 13 points; it didn't last, however. 

"Deflections. We were active. Everyone had deflections or were coming up with steals," Kidd said. "Understand [Anfernee] Simons is a tough cover, trying to make it tough on him, our guys did a really good job of trying to keep him in front. It's not easy to stay in front of Simons because he can go either way, and his range is deep. I thought the guys did a really good job."

Doncic began to pick apart the Blazers with his passing, finding Dwight Powell and Tim Hardaway Jr. for finishes on consecutive possessions, putting them back up by 10. By staying active with player movement, Doncic passed over the top when the opportunity presented itself. Irving checked back in place of Doncic to close out the first quarter, helping to keep a double-figure lead (35-25) when it ended. 

The momentum for the Mavs' bench group continued, with Irving setting the tone, resulting in a 10-4 run to begin the second period to achieve a 16-point lead (45-29). Irving forced a timeout call from Portland after hitting a contested 3-pointer on a transition trail, scoring his 13th point of the night. It was clear he was back in rhythm. The run continued with Irving countering being top-locked by rookie Scoot Henderson by cutting, receiving a pass from Dereck Lively II for an and-one finish.

The Mavs led 47-32 with 7:46 left in the first half when Doncic checked back into the game. Irving's impact continued to be felt, getting to the paint for a floater and finding Derrick Jones Jr. in transition on a no-look pass for a dunk. Doncic took over initiating the offense but remained trusting his teammates on throw-ahead passes, including a contact finish for Green to push the lead to 21 points. 

"Easy flow, easy flow, easy to play with, and we're getting up and down like that, we're getting stopped," Irving said. "So, I mean, 21 turnovers don't happen every single night. But when you get your forced 21 turnovers, you have a few chances and a few more opportunities to get to the rim, get some open threes, transition, and make the game easy. So we did that tonight."

Doncic continued to help the Mavs pour it on the Blazers, including cutting after being top-locked for a wide-open finish, then hitting a 3-pointer, and capping it off by attacking the rim against a mismatch for a finish, extending Dallas' advantage over Portland to 62-35 with under five minutes left to play in the half.

Continuing to pick on the Blazers' defense, the Mavs went up 29 points with Irving playing out of a high Horns set, receiving a ball screen from Doncic before getting into a pull-up 3-pointer on the wing. With the ball moving quickly on the next possession, Doncic got the ball back at the top of the 3-point line with the defense out of rotation, setting up a wide-open dunk after a closeout attack. 

Doncic reached the 30-point threshold in the first half after getting to the rim for an and-one finish, setting up a 78-47 edge at the break. Irving had already scored 22 points while dishing out six assists. The team overall was shooting 26-42 (61.9 percent) on all shot attempts, 7-16 (43.8 percent) on 3-pointers, and already had 25 free throw attempts, making 19 of them. It was a dominant display of offense. With a combined 52 points from Doncic and Irving, Dallas' superstars outscored Portland's whole team by a five-point margin at the break. 

Doncic opened the second half with a step-back 3-pointer, followed by a catch-and-shoot make from the corner. While the offense did decline in execution, scoring 24 points in the period after scoring a staggering 43 in the second quarter, Dallas still emphasized pushing the pace, but shotmaking declined. Regardless, containing Portland to just 27 in the period solidified their outlook. 

After Doncic tried finding Lively on a quick pass on the roll, the rookie big man collided with a defender, causing him to go down. His teammates helped him, and he needed assistance leaving the court as he headed to the locker room. He was later ruled out after being diagnosed with a left ankle sprain.

Dereck Lively II was helped off the floor after appearing to injure his leg. pic.twitter.com/AWZEmCfAVh

— Grant Afseth (@GrantAfseth) January 4, 2024

Doncic finished at the rim just before the end of the third quarter, scoring his 41st point of the night. The Mavs did not face the need to bring their superstar backcourt back into the game for the fourth quarter, leading 102-74 while holding a lead of 30 or more points at numerous points in the final period.

In addition to Lively being ruled out, Grant Williams later suffered a right ankle sprain, causing his performance to end early. Dallas had managed to largely regain health over the past week, but now will have a few key players to monitor regarding status updates as its homestand plays out. 

"Ankle sprains, mild, getting treatment," Kidd said of Lively and Williams. "We'll see how they feel tomorrow."

Hardaway was Dallas' only other double-figure scorer aside from Doncic and Irving, finishing his outing with 14 points. Dallas was highly efficient, shooting 42-84 (50.0 percent) from the floor and 13-30 (43.3 percent) from beyond the arc, totaling 41 free throw attempts and only 11 turnovers. 

With Portland turning it over 20 times and shooting 34-88 (38.6 percent) from the floor and 13-40 (32.5 percent) from deep, it was an abysmal display of offense, preventing the team from having any outlook to be competitive. None of their players reached double-figures, with Anfernee Simons and Scoot Henderson combining for only 22 points with inefficient outings. 

The Mavs and Blazers will face off at American Airlines Center again on Friday, completing a two-game mini-series.