MVP Showdown: Mavs' Luka Doncic Evens Score with Thunder's SGA
The revamped and re-energized Dallas Mavericks took on the Oklahoma City Thunder at American Airlines Center on Saturday afternoon, and they extended their win streak to four games with a resounding 146-111 victory.
Despite Luka Doncic putting up career-best numbers, averaging 34.5 points, 8.8 rebounds and 9.4 assists while shooting 49.1 percent overall and 38.0 percent from deep, he has taken a back seat to a handful of players in NBA MVP rankings, including OKC's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, for most of the season.
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Doncic's MVP narrative could be on the verge of shifting, though, as the four-time All-NBA First Teamer has the Mavs' record up to 30-23 with a lot of room to grow following the trade deadline acquisitions of Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington. Although no game is a given, the Mavs have a good chance of upping their win streak to six games heading into the All-Star break with matchups against the 9-43 Washington Wizards coming on Monday and the 10-43 San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday.
On the latest NBA MVP Ladder, Doncic moved up two spots from No. 6 to No. 4, passing Boston Celtics' Jayson Tatum and Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid, who won't qualify for the award this season due to missing too many games. Currently, Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo is at No. 3, OKC's Gilgeous-Alexander is at No. 2, and Denver Nuggets' Nikola Jokic is at No. 1.
Given that the Bucks have lost five of their last seven games, and that Doncic beat out SGA in the Dallas' blowout win over OKC on Saturday, it's easy to see how the Mavs' superstar could find himself in a two-man race with Jokic soon.
In Saturday's win, Doncic finished with 32 points on 9-14 shooting to go with eight rebounds and nine assists while being a +18 in 31 minutes. SGA, by comparison, finished with 25 points on 9-16 shooting to go with six rebounds and five assists while being a team-worst -31. Statistically, Doncic out-dueled SGA in their early-December matchup when the Mavs nearly pulled off a 24-point comeback, but ultimately fell short, 126-120. Now, the score is tied up at 1-1 with one more head-to-head scheduled for March 14.
“You know he’s a really good player, so he’s not just going to keep making the same mistakes throughout the entire game," Chet Holmgren, SGA's Thunder teammate, said of Doncic. "He’s going to adjust and figure out defenses. It’s just part of what makes him a great player, obviously he has skills on top of that, that allows him to do a lot of things out there.
"Once you throw a coverage at him or a scheme at him, even if it messes him up initially, he going to learn from it and figure it out how to beat it. I’m sure at this point in his career he’s seen a lot of everything that teams have tried to throw at him, so he’s good at adjusting and we got to continue to try to trust and adjust as well with him.”
SGA is a fantastic player, and he's having a spectacular season for OKC, but when the playing field is leveled when it comes to overall roster talent surrounding the two stars, Doncic is simply on another level, and he showed that this weekend. There's a long way to go for the Mavs, but the vibes have changed dramatically, and the future is looking bright. The MVP race for the rest of this season should be thrilling.
