By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Luka Doncic scored 26 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out six assists as the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Washington Wizards 109 – 87 to capture their fourth win in a row.
While Doncic had an all-around presence once more and produced a game-high-tying in points, he struggled from range with 1-8 3-pointers. The Mavs put their defense to great use to get the victory, forcing the Wizards to 40 points in the second half.
Boban Marjanovic played for 20+ minutes for the second time this season and delivered a double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds. Nicolo Melli had season-highs 10 points and eight rebounds in 28 minutes as a starter.
Davis Bertans finished with 11 points and Deni Avdija (who was also tasked with guarding Doncic) had nine points and eight rebounds.
The Utah Jazz locomotive remains unstoppable, now riding on a 9 – 0 winning streak after the 137 – 91 blowout over the Orlando Magic. Quin Snyder’s players set a record for most 3-pointers in a half with 18 in the first two periods in a brilliant offensive output overall.
Bojan Bogdanovic did his part with 4-6 3-pointers and 17 points while Rudy Gobert had 11 points, six rebounds and four blocks. Ersan Ilyasova notched nine points and five boards.
Enes Kanter got back to his usual double-double form with 12 points and 17 rebounds (plus four assists) in the Portland Trail Blazers‘ 133 – 85 win over his former team Oklahoma City Thunder.
Jusuf Nurkic contributed nine points and eight rebounds to the Blazers‘ victory.
After his career-high 33 points, Theo Maledon was held to seven points and 1-12 shots by the Blazers. Aleksej Pokusevski had eight points, four assists and a bit of similar shooting troubles (3-13 from the field) with his young French teammate. Svi Mykhailiuk scored three points.
The rest of Saturday’s results and Euro scorers:
Miami Heat – Cleveland Cavaliers 115 – 101 (Goran Dragic 13 points, Nemanja Bjelica 10 points, Cedi Osman two points)
San Antonio Spurs – Indiana Pacers 133 – 139 (Jakob Poeltl 14 points, 13 rebounds, Luka Samanic two points)
Philadelphia 76ers – Minnesota Timberwolves 122 – 113 (Furkan Korkmaz six points)
Detroit Pistons – New York Knicks 81 – 125 (Deivydas Svyridis three points, Frank Ntilikina 1 point)
Sacramento Kings – Milwaukee Bucks 128 – 129 (Thanasis Antetokounmpo two points)