Dallas Basketball

Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavs Blast Houston Rockets; Move Up to 5th Seed in West Standings

Luka Doncic dominated in the Dallas Mavericks' blowout win over the Houston Rockets on Sunday, moving his team up to the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference standings for the time being.

Dalton Trigg

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
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Despite playing the hottest team in the NBA on the road, Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks went into Toyota Center on Sunday night and slammed the door on the Houston Rockets' 11-game win streak with a 125-107 blowout win.

Doncic was magnificent in Dallas' seventh consecutive win – which was also its 11th win in 12 games – finishing with 47 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists, two steals while shooting 18-30 overall and 9-16 from deep in just 35 minutes of play.

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

During the third quarter, Doncic set NBA social media on fire by nailing an insane finger roll from near the 3-point line. Doncic has the ultimate belief that he can make any kind of trick shot he attempts, and that particular shot against the Rockets exemplified that unwavering belief.

"I had a good feeling it was going in," Doncic said. "We stay together all the time. Even when a team goes on a run, we stay together, and that's the most important thing."

With the win, the Mavs have moved up from the No. 6 seed to the No. 5 due to currently having the regular-season tiebreaker over the New Orleans Pelicans. The Mavs now has a two-game cushion on avoiding the Play-In Tournament, but given that they're just two games behind the Los Angeles Clippers and the No. 4 seed, what's happening under them in the standings might not mean much.

If Dallas simply keeps winning, all good things will come its way: Doncic potentially winning MVP, the team staying hot as postseason play begins, and maybe, just maybe ... the team opening up said postseason at American Airlines Center. Next up, the Mavs will take on the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday in San Fransisco.

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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.

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