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Tim MacMahon, ESPN Staff Writer
DALLAS — Luka Doncic was added to the Mavericks‘ lengthy injury report Tuesday afternoon, about a dozen hours after the team’s flight from Memphis landed. Heading into the second night of a back-to-back, he was officially listed as questionable to face the Los Angeles Lakers with a lower back contusion, but any number of ailments could have been mentioned.
“I don’t know how I played,” Doncic said after leading the Mavs to a 127-125 home win Tuesday night. “I slept very little today. Everything hurts. I’m getting old, man, but we got two back-to-back wins, which is amazing, especially against a team like the Lakers. So I’m really proud of these guys.”
Doncic, 24, dominated despite all the bumps and bruises and a steady diet of double-teams. He finished with 33 points, six rebounds and 17 assists, outdueling 38-year-old LeBron James (33 points, eight rebounds, nine assists) before getting the all-time scoring leader’s autographed jersey to add to his collection.
With injuries ravaging its rotation, Dallas has needed Doncic to assume an extraordinarily heavy workload. Co-star Kyrie Irving missed both games because of a right heel contusion severe enough to require a protective boot and the use of crutches. Key reserves Maxi Kleber (toe) and Josh Green (elbow) have been out for an extended period. Starting small forward Derrick Jones Jr. (quad) was injured in Memphis and sat out against the Lakers. Seth Curry, the fill-in starter at shooting guard, did not play in the second half because of left ankle soreness.
Sixth man Tim Hardaway Jr. missed three of the previous five games with back spasms, but he returned to score 32 points against the Lakers after sitting out against the Grizzlies. Starting power forward Grant Williams also made a major contribution in his return from injury, scoring 19 points after missing the previous three games with a bone bruise in his right knee.
“I was going to come out aggressive, knowing how they were defending Luka,” Hardaway said. “I just had to try my best to just put a stamp on the game.”
Doncic played 43 minutes Tuesday night after a 35-point, eight-rebound, six-assist, 44-minute performance in Monday’s road win over the Memphis Grizzlies. Since missing his only game of the season when he became a first-time father, he has been on a phenomenal five-game run, averaging 35.2 points, 9.2 rebounds and 12.4 assists to lead the short-handed Mavs to a 4-1 record. Dallas (15-8) has moved up to third place in the Western Conference standings.
“The thing is for him to learn how to rest on offense when he gets double-teamed, and that’s what he’s doing,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. “He’s getting double-teamed at the top of the floor, and he’s trusting that once he does that, it’s advantage basketball.”
Dante Exum, who started in Jones’ place, was a major beneficiary of all the attention the Lakers paid Doncic. He scored 26 points, eclipsing his season high of 23 set two games earlier, while shooting 7-of-9 from 3-point range.
The Lakers game-planned to give up open looks to Exum, who was 8-of-28 from 3-point range this season entering the night, in exchange for forcing the ball out of Doncic’s hands. That proved especially costly in the fourth quarter, when Exum had 17 points, his most in any quarter of his career, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
“Anytime you play a guy like Luka that’s so talented, so good passing the ball, but obviously scores it as well, it makes it tough,” Lakers guard Austin Reaves said. “That’s the challenge when you have a guy like that on the other team that you’re trying to slow down and Exum, you got to tip your hat to him. Coming into the game, we knew he hadn’t shot the ball well from 3 and tonight he hits seven of them. So, you tip your hat and you move forward.”
Doncic assisted on six of Exum’s seven 3s, including four in the fourth quarter, highlighted by a left-handed dime that he tossed behind Lakers center Jaxson Hayes’ head.
“I did not expect that pass to come, so I was just glad I hit it,” Exum said. “But that’s talking about Luka trusting me, knowing that they’re going to help off me and just him trusting that if he throws it to me, I’m going to hit it.”