'Fantastic' Luka Doncic comes up big with 33 points, clutch late D - ESPN

DALLAS — Last season was all about Luka Doncic going on a scoring spree, being back in Dallas for the first time. Saturday, it was Doncic's defense that helped spark a furious Los Angeles Lakers' comeback to beat his former team, 116-110.

The Mavericks led by 15 with 7:41 remaining in the fourth quarter, surging all the way back after L.A. led by 13 at halftime.

The Lakers closed the game on a 29-8 run from there, with Doncic thwarting his former coach, Jason Kidd's scheme to attack him on defense when the Mavs had the ball.

«We counted after the game, he had six straight stops where they targeted him,» Lakers coach JJ Redick said of Doncic. «Just a fantastic job from him. Then [he] makes the game-sealing defensive play with the charge on [Naji] Marshall.»

Doncic drew the offensive foul on Marshall — a well-liked ex-teammate of his who he exchanged good-natured trash talk with all night — with 41.8 seconds left, a possession after he cut through the defense to score a finger-roll layup to put L.A. up by eight.

«It's a special place,» Doncic said of Dallas. «I mean, I'm always going to want to win no matter what. Every game I want to win, but obviously this one's a little bit different.»

Doncic said he visited his house — and his car collection — on Friday night and was grateful to the Mavs fans that braved icy conditions on the roads to pack American Airlines Center for the game.

«That was really special,» Doncic said. «I didn't know what to expect before, because I know how this city gets when the weather is bad. I really appreciate a lot of people showing up.»

Doncic finished with 33 points on 8-for-15 shooting, 11 assists and eight rebounds, a game after Redick called him out for not trusting his teammates and looking