Mavs Head Coach Jason Kidd Details Important Plan for Luka Doncic

Getty Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks.

The Dallas Mavericks have turned their season around in recent games. They have now won six games in a row, bringing their record to 21-16 and putting them in fourth place in the Western Conference standings. And Luka Doncic has been at the helm of it all.

He’s been playing insanely well for the Mavericks and has put up at least 50 points in three out of his last five performances, including a 60-point, 20-rebound, 10-assist triple-double that made NBA history. But in their recent win over the Houston Rockets, Jason Kidd managed his minutes and talked about the decision after the game.

“We asked, ‘Do you want to go in the fourth?’ He thought he could give us three minutes there,” Kidd explained. “Then we talked about it again to see where the score was, if we had to bring him back. He got a break … that’s what we talked about during the game. I thought he did a great job using the full-court pass today. We might have set a record tonight for fast-break points – 25. We normally have zero or two. Tonight, we had an all-time high. It shows we can run if we want to… Season high. There you go, for the new year.”

When the fourth quarter rolled around, the Mavericks were leading the Rockets by a score of 99-79. Doncic had already played a little over 30 minutes heading into the final frame, so he and Kidd decided that he would only play a few minutes in the fourth.

The Slovenian superstar ended the night with another incredible performance. He finished with 35 points, 12 rebounds, and 13 assists on 11-of-21 shooting from the floor and 4-of-9 shooting from beyond the three-point arc.

Gregg Popovich Makes Bold Claim About Luka Doncic

Ahead of Dallas’ recent game against the San Antonio Spurs, head coach Gregg Popovich noted that his team’s goal would be to hold Doncic to under 50 points. Unfortunately for him, he ended up dropping 51 against the Spurs.

After the contest, Popovich couldn’t do anything but laugh when he recalled his statement about Doncic.

“Oh, I said that didn’t I?” Popovich said with a laugh when asked about the 50 points comment. “I think the next day he got, was it the next day he got 60? Or two days later, or something like that? It’s unbelievable, this guy. Yeah, he’s something else. You know, we all we all talk about him, and you look at him, and if he walked in the room, you wouldn’t say… He’s just a beautiful basketball player. He’s like the prototype for high basketball IQ and high skill level all rolled into one guy. He’s very special, very special.”

Luka Doncic Takes Subtle Jab at Christian Wood

While Popovich and Kidd are bewildered by Doncic’s play, Doncic is happy with his teammates. Doncic said that he likes playing with Wood.

“I mean, it’s great. He doesn’t get mad if sometimes I yell at him,” Doncic explained. “And that’s what I appreciate. Because you know, in the game, I’m a lot. Sometimes it’s hard to be with me on the court, probably. I just want to win. But you know, he appreciates that. He never gets mad. He listens to me, I listen to him, so it’s working great.”

At the same time, however, he joked that Wood doesn’t have a great sense of humor.

“No, no. He has no sense of humor,” Doncic said when asked if he and Wood have a similar sense of humor. “I’ve got way more. I tell him my jokes. My jokes are great, so he’s learning from me.”