By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Another great game by Luka Doncic but another loss for Dallas. The Mavericks could not capitalize after a 40-point game by Doncic as the Hornets prevail 110-104.
From the first minute, the Hornets were on a roll, scoring 30 points for a big 14-point advantage (30-16). It was all Luka Doncic after that, keeping Dallas in the game, but in the end, everything that Luka did was not enough for the win.
With 40 points, Luka added 12 rebounds and eight assists. With all that he inked his 16th technical foul of the season which earns him a suspension.
For Charlotte, Gordon Hayward scored 22 points, and P. J. Washington added 21.
Players automatically get a one-game suspension after 16 technical fouls each season, and for every two technicals thereafter. Memphis Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks (twice) and Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green have served suspensions due to their technicals totals this season.
Doncic narrowly avoided a suspension the prior two years, finishing each of those seasons with 15 technical fouls. He had a technical foul rescinded before last year’s regular-season finale.
Sunday’s technical foul comes two days after Doncic was fined by the league for rubbing his fingers together, in an apparent reference to money, while staring down a ref during last week’s loss to the Warriors.
With the Mavs‘ loss on Sunday, Dallas falls to 36-39, one loss back of the Oklahoma City Thunder for the final play-in spot in the Western Conference.