Doncic gets help this time as Mavericks roll, avoid elimination
Dallas builds huge lead, forces Game 5
DALLAS — Luka Doncic had 30 points and 14 rebounds, and the Dallas Mavericks beat the Golden State Warriors 119-109 on Tuesday night to avoid being swept in the Western Conference finals.
It was the 10th double-double in his 14 games this postseason for Doncic, who also had nine assists and got some help from his supporting cast to extend this series. He had 40 points in Game 3, when Reggie Bullock shot 0 for 10 with seven misses from 3-point range.
Dorian Finney-Smith had 23 points and Bullock had 18 on 6-of10 shooting — all 3-pointers. Jalen
Brunson had 15 points. The Mavs were 20 of 43 on 3-pointers.
The loss snapped the Warriors’ nine-game winning streak in Western Conference finals games, though they are still firmly in control of this series headed back to California for Game 5 on Thursday night.
Stephen Curry had 20 points and returned to the game with 3:22 left — his first appearance in the fourth quarter — after the Warriors had cut a 29-point deficit to 110-102. But they never got closer even with Curry and other starters returning to the floor.
Doncic then drove for a dunk and Bullock made his sixth 3-pointer.
No NBA team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series. Only three of the 146 teams to fall in that deep hole have even been able to force a seventh game.
Jonathan Kuminga had 17 points and Andrew Wiggins 13 points for the Warriors, who had seven players score in double figures.
There was even a 16-minute rain delay, when the start of the second half was held up because of rain leaking through the roof at American Airlines Center. There was heavy rain outside, and there were at least two leaks. One was dropping water near the Golden State bench, and at the other end
of the court water appeared to be falling in the stands.
MVP Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, Devin Booker and Jayson Tatum were voted first-team All-NBA on Tuesday, the first time in 67 years all five players were age 27 or younger.
Milwaukee’s Antetokounmpo was the only player to receive all 100 possible first-team votes and finished with 500 points in his fourth consecutive first-team selection. Denver’s Jokic and Dallas’ Doncic each received 88 firstteam votes and 476 points.
Doncic joined Tim Duncan, Kevin Durant and Max Zaslofsky as the only players to make the first team three or more times before turning 24.
Phoenix’s Booker (460 points) and Boston’s Tatum (390) both were first-time selections to the first team.
Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, the NBA’s leading scorer and runnerup to Jokic for MVP, led the second team. He was joined by Ja Morant, winner of the Most Improved Player award, Durant, Stephen Curry and DeMar DeRozan.
The third team was Karl-Anthony Towns, LeBron James — who earned his 18th All-NBA selection — Chris Paul, Trae Young and former New Mexico State Aggie Pascal Siakam.