By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
One day after becoming a father, Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks made history on the court but lost the game.
Thunder got the 126-120 win, but in the fourth quarter, the Mavs turned around a lopsided game with a 30-0 run after being down by 24 points. The 30-point run is the biggest even in the NBA since at least 1997-98, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, when similar stats are kept.
“It was the happiest day of my life with the baby, but then today’s game was a big roller coaster, too,” said Doncic, who wrote his daughter’s name, Gabriela, on one of his signature Jordan Luka 2 shoes. “I’m so sad we didn’t win this game, but man, we gave a big, big effort.”
Doncic committed two turnovers in the final 87 seconds, including a traveling call with 1:27 remaining that enraged him.
“My view is it probably was a travel, but those travels happen about, my opinion, 20 times a game,” he said. “So a minute and a half to go, if you’re going to call that travel for the first time in the game, you can’t do that. I don’t think so. But I think those travels happen a lot of times in one game and the NBA doesn’t call the travels, so I was really surprised.”
Doncic was even more outraged after Oklahoma City’s Jalen Williams drove past him for the go-ahead basket with 41 seconds remaining because he thought Williams “did the exact same thing”.
“So it pissed me off,” said Doncic, who angrily confronted referee Mitchell Erwin after the final buzzer. However, Doncic admitted that his frustration which included a key turnover in an inbounds pass after Williams’ shot, cost the game to the Mavs.
“That can’t happen,” Doncic said. “That probably lost us the game. The focus should be there, but I was a little bit exhausted.”