There were certain moments during Monday night’s game between the Detroit Pistons and Dallas Mavericks when it looked like the Pistons were going to walk away with the W.
This was the last thing that fans of the Mavericks wanted to see, as they had lost three of their last four games and were supposed to be the big favorites over the Pistons.
Luka carried 😳 pic.twitter.com/48PTWGg5uH
— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) January 31, 2023
But even though things were close at a few times, the Mavericks ended up with a 111-105 victory, thanks almost entirely to Luka Doncic.
Once again, Doncic was the best player for his team with a stunning 53 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists on an incredible 70.8% field goal percentage.
Doncic was on fire and the rest of his team definitely was not.
Behind Doncic’s 53, the second-best scorer for Dallas was Spencer Dinwiddie with just 12.
No one else with the Mavericks even scored double digits.
We have seen this time and time again.
The Mavericks would have been beaten by a wide margin if Doncic wasn’t on the court.
This was yet another statement game for Doncic.
But it also showed just how lacking the rest of the roster can be.
Doncic isn’t able to rely on the rest of his crew.
This means that games like the one on Monday are somewhat bittersweet.
If Doncic were to get hurt and miss games, what would happen to the Mavericks?
We saw that the team is able to step up at times, as they did the other night when Doncic exited a game after just a few minutes.
Head coach Jason Kidd needs to see much more reliability from the rest of the squad.
Otherwise, Doncic will get gassed out before the playoffs roll around.
Doncic is a terrific basketball player.
However, he needs to be surrounded by a group of terrific reinforcements too.
NEXT: Luka Doncic Has A Message For The League After Scoring 53 Points