SPECIAL TO THE BRONX CHRONICLE
By Jason Gonzalez
Dallas, TX – The Mavericks are now the losers of six straight. San Antonio shooting guard DeMar DeRozan [33] and power forward LaMarcus Aldridge [28] scored a combined 61 points to give the Spurs the victory by a score of 112-105.
Mavericks rookie shooting guard Luka Doncic struggled mightily from both the field and the free throwline. Doncic finished the game with 12 points; six rebounds, seven assists, but a career worst nine turnovers, and was 1-of-9 from the line.
“He didn’t look right,” said Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle. “I probably played him too many minutes.”
“We were talking today about playing or not,” Doncic said in reference to a conversation he had with Carlisle. “Honestly I wasn’t 100 percent, but I want to play always. Even though we’re not playing for that much right now I just want to play every game.”
Doncic’s availability last night was questionable as a result of suffering a mild knee sprain in a game against the Houston Rockets last Sunday.
DeRozan and Aldridge were spinning images of each other on the court. Both players had identical stats from the field [11-for-19], while managing to merge for an impressive 17-for-17 in the foul shooting department.
“A win is a win, no matter where we are playing at,” said DeRozan with respect to the city rivalry between Dallas and San Antonio. “We needed it [the win]. We could have been playing in Alaska tonight and it would have felt the same. We needed it.”
Maverick rookie point guard Jalen Brunson dropped a career-high 34 points, while center Dwight Powell added 20 to boost.
As the NBA regular season winds down, [15 games left] the Spurs, now winners of six in a row, are carrying a lot of momentum with them into the post season. As for Maverick fans, well the future appears to be bright. Once Kristaps Porzingis returns, assuming that he has fully recovered, the Mavericks would then have a big three of their own. The trio of Doncic, Brunson, and Porzingis would be fun to watch.
In other news, Mavericks power forward and future Hall-of-Famer Dirk Nowitzki is only 27 points away from passing Wilt Chamberlain for the sixth spot on the NBA career scoring list. Chamberlain finished his historic career amassing 31,419 points with the three teams [Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers, and Los Angeles Lakers] over the course of 15 years.
The 40-year-old German began his career in the NBA as a teenager. Now in his 21st season in Dallas, the 7- foot perennial all-star has accumulated 31, 393 career points in the process.
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