A superb Doncic (28 + 9 + 13) touches the triple-double but falls in extremis against MVP Antetokounmpo

Lthe Milwaukee Bucks suffered this Friday to defeat the Dallas Mavericks112-109 in a match that showed that even when the Slovenian guard Luka Doncic has a regular day, the Texan team is a tough opponent to beat.

Doncic, who recovered in the second half of the game, was again on the verge of getting a triple-double by scoring 28 points, 9 rebounds and 13 assists. But the Mavs star too he missed four of his seven free throws.

Meanwhile, in the Bucks, Giannis Antetokounmpo had another decisive performance for his team with 31 points, 9 rebounds and 1 assist, although it was Kris Middleton’s last-minute triples that sentenced the game for Milwaukee.

The game was presented as a personal duel between two European players: Giannis Antetokounmpo with the Bucks and Luka Doncic with the Mavericks.

On Wednesday, the Greek star of the Milwaukee had scored against the Detroit Pistons a triple-double (22 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists), the twentieth of his career. Antetokounmpo has started the season in good shape and until today averaged 26.2 points and 10.1 rebounds per game.

Some numbers similar to those of the Slovenian from Dallas that so far this season adds an average of 27.4 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. In addition, Doncic has achieved two triple-doubles since the beginning of the competition and in the previous game he stayed at one assist to add a new triple-double.

The first quarter was clearly taken by the Milwaukee team, led by an Antetokounmpo that prevailed in his personal duel with Doncic. The power forward for the Bucks finished the first 12 minutes of the game with 10 points and 3 rebounds under his belt, while Doncic had to settle for 9 points, 1 rebound and 5 assists. The other European of the Mavs, the Latvian Kristaps Porzingis in his second game after recovering from a serious knee injury, completed the quarter with 5 points and 4 rebounds.

Antetokounmpo started the second quarter strong. In the first 90 seconds he scored another four points. First with an entry that ended with a powerful mate. Shortly after with another inning that ended on a layup and started a foul from his defender.

While Antetokounmpo played and scored, Doncic waited on the bench and watched the Bucks move away on the scoreboard 43-29 with 8 minutes to go to break thanks to contributions from Brook Lopez. In the first four minutes, the Bucks’ starting pvot hit a triple and two two-point baskets and secured a rebound.

When Doncic returned to the court with four minutes to go before the break, the Mavs had cut the distance to 9 points, 47-38.

With 1.43 minutes remaining in the second quarter, the Mavs came within 2 points, 49-47, but without Doncic’s baskets the effort was useless. The Slovenian point guard only scored one point in the entire second quarter and was a free throw. And the Bucks reacted and in the last 43 seconds they posted a 6-0 run to go to the locker room with a 55-47 score.

The Mavs left the locker room motivated. Doncic reappeared, Antetokounmpo went to the bench after adding his fourth personal and Mavs base forward Tim Hardaway started shooting.

The result was that for the first time in the match, the Mavs scored more points in the third quarter (34) than the Bucks (29) which brought the score to a tight 84-81 at the 12 minute mark.

Those of Dallas saw for the first time that the party could be turned in their favor and they pressed the accelerator. With 10 minutes remaining in the game, the scoreboard was 88-88. The Bucks barely managed to keep the lead until with 3 minutes remaining the Dallas team took a 103-104 lead.

The game seemed to finally be in favor of the Texans, with Doncic leading the way and haranguing his teammates in the middle of the court. But in the end, two consecutive triples by MIddleton and the lack of success of a Porzingis in the process of recovery sentenced the game in favor of the Bucks.

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