Tag: Dallas Mavericks

Rockets decry defensive lapses vs. Dallas in third straight loss

The Rockets made just 10-of-44 three-pointers in Sunday’s loss, but they primarily blamed their leaky defense — which allowed 137 points.

The Rockets gave up 45 points to the Dallas Mavericks in Sunday’s first quarter and couldn’t overcome that early deficit in a 137-123 home defeat (box score) at Toyota Center. It’s the third straight loss for Houston (11-6) following a recent eight-game winning streak.

The Mavs (11-5) were led by 41 points and 10 assists from second-year guard sensation Luka Doncic, along with 23 points and 13 rebounds from 7-foot-3 forward Kristaps Porzingis. They led for the entire game.

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“It’s one of those games where you’ve got to force yourself to have the juice to start,” head coach Mike D’Antoni said postgame. “A 2:30 start coming back from LA [Los Angeles], an emotional game on Friday, and we were flat and they weren’t. They punched us good, and we fall all the way back. A lot of times when you do that, you run out of gas. I had to play James [Harden] extra minutes early to get us stabilized, and you then don’t have the juice to finish it off. Above all, [Dallas] played really well.”

The Rockets trailed by 16 points after the first quarter and by 20 in the third quarter before making a push, clawing back to within five on two occasions early in the fourth quarter. But as D’Antoni alluded to, the Rockets spent so much energy during the comeback that they didn’t seem to have anything left down the stretch.

James Harden led the way with 32 points and 11 assists, but he made just 2-of-15 (13.3%) from behind the three-point arc. Off the bench, Ben McLemore and Austin Rivers were a combined 0-of-9 on three-pointers.

Overall, despite numerous open looks Houston made just 10-of-44 (22.7%) from three-point range — while Dallas connected on 17 of their 44 attempts (38.6%). That 21-point gap on the same number of shots was much more than the final margin between the teams.

However, the Rockets were much more concerned postgame about their lethargic early defense than they were the bad shooting.

“Our defensive was not where it needed it to be from the beginning of the game,” said veteran defensive ace P.J. Tucker, who scored 16 points (7-of-10 shooting) in 36 minutes. “We knew they were one of the best first half teams in the league. We had to assert ourselves early, and we didn’t.”

“We allowed them to do whatever they wanted to do [offensively] from the beginning of the game,” added Harden. “When you give a team like that comfort and the ability to do whatever they want, they gain confidence, and that’s what they did.”

As one might expect given the total of 123 points, the Rockets had plenty of stat-stuffers. Starting center Clint Capela had 21 points and 22 rebounds, which tied Dennis Rodman for the NBA’s longest streak (at seven games) since 1976 of consecutive games with at least 19 rebounds.

Danuel House Jr. returned from a one-game absence due to a sore shoulder and added 16 points, including three of Houston’s 10 three-pointers. Russell Westbrook had 27 points and six assists, and his 40% clip (2-of-5) on three-pointers was his best mark from three-point range since the season opener back on Oct. 24. Westbrook also had several acrobatic layups during Houston’s rally late in the third quarter and early in the fourth as the Rockets cut into the lead.

But none of it was enough to fully overcome the early deficit, and the Rockets are putting the blame squarely on themselves for surrendering 45 points in the first quarter.

“When you have to be perfect, it’s hard,” Rivers said. “We put ourselves in a hole to where we had to be perfect to win the game.”

The Rockets return to action Wednesday at home versus Miami (11-4), which means it won’t be easy for Houston to snap its current three-game slide. The Heat crushed the Rockets by 29 points earlier this month, though that game was in Miami. Houston then won its next eight games.

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Luka Doncic joins James Harden, Russell Westbrook in historic streak

Luka Doncic, James Harden and Russell Westbrook are three of the most skilled playmakers in the NBA.

This current era of NBA basketball has produced players who have pushed the boundaries of what it means to be a playmaker.

Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic is one of the most talented players in the league, and as a second-year player he has quickly elevated himself into the league’s upper echelon. On Sunday he joined the company of Houston Rockets guards James Harden and Russell Westbrook in a historic streak.

Doncic scored 41 points and tallied 10 assists in the Mavericks’ 137-123 win over Houston. Per ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, Doncic joined Westbrook and Harden as the third active player to post four consecutive games of at least 30 points and 10 assists.

Since the 1983-84 season, Michael Jordan is the only other player to accomplish the feat.

As two of the best guards in the league, Harden and Westbrook are skilled at penetrating the lane and finding teammates. On top of that, both players always seem to find ways to score. Doncic has been compared to Harden in part because he uses a stepback jumper similar to Harden’s signature move.

Each of the three players are ranked in the top 15 of the league for assists per game, with Doncic being the highest at No. 2. Harden ranks seventh, and Westbrook ranks 15th.

The league’s leading scorer, Harden has put together two games this season where he’s had at least 30 points and 10 assists. Westbrook hasn’t posted any games with those numbers.

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Luka Doncic and Dallas dominate injury-hobbled Warriors, 142-94

Luka Doncic handed the Warriors their worst loss in the Steve Kerr era.

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Before referee, Ed Malloy tossed the ball into the air at American Airlines Arena for the opening tip, the Golden State Warriors were behind against the Dallas Mavericks.

Former Defensive Player of the Year, Draymond Green was ruled out before the start of the Warriors second stop in a road back-to-back bringing Golden State’s healthy player count down to eight against the Mavericks— a season-low for the injury-laden Dubs.

The Warriors-Mavericks game started with Green’s injury announcement and ended with a 142-94 win in favor of the home team.

The thin Warriors rotation didn’t hold back the Mavericks from stepping on the peddle, behind their Slovenian star showing why he’s the talk of the town.

Luka Doncic blitzed the Warriors from the first quarter on, recording a triple-double without even playing in the fourth quarter. The reigning Rookie of the Year tallied 35 points, 11 assists, and 10 rebounds in only 25-minutes— the shortest 35-point triple-double in NBA history.

The second-year phenom, outscored Golden State alone in the first quarter, 22-16. For the first half, he dropped 33 points while the entire Warriors team only scored 38 going into the locker room.

Luckily for Golden State, as bad as it was, this wasn’t there worst all-time loss. Back in 1972, the Warriors lost by a whopping 63-points to the Lakers, It’s tough to find positives in a 48-loss, but here we are.

Similar to the rest of the season, Golden State was led by a pair of rookies who are making a case to be a part of the team’s future plans.

Undrafted Boston College product, Ky Bowman, started at point-guard and continued to prove he belongs in the NBA. Bowman controlled the game on the offensive side for Golden State, scoring 16-points, dishes out a pair of dimes, with no turnovers.

Eric Paschall added another solid game to his rookie campaign leading Golden State with 22 points and seven rebounds.

The Warriors now head to Utah to cap off their four-game road swing against the 8-5 Jazz. Getting his young roster to respond to the worst loss of his coaching tenure with a step in the right direction will be Coach Steve Kerr’s next big challenge.

Luka Doncic humiliated the Warriors with a historic first quarter

Luke Doncic embarrassed Golden State in the first quarter.

So yeah, Luka Doncic is really, really good at basketball.

The second-year star of the Dallas Mavericks entered Wednesday night’s game against the Golden State Warriors averaging just under 30 points a contest. He also has 10.7 rebounds a game and 9.3 assists.

Earlier this week our Charles Curtis gave you six reasons why Doncic is the favorite to win the NBA MVP award this season.

Then Wednesday night he went out and had a monster first quarter against the banged-up Warriors, putting up numbers that haven’t been seen since Allen Iverson in 2003.

Check out what he did to poor Golden State, who added Draymond Green to their list of injured stars before the game:

He had 22 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists in the first:

He then had a good second quarter, too:

And he had another triple-double before the fourth quarter:

This adds to his historic run of late:

Yup, the 20 year old is pretty good.

Warriors-Mavericks odds: Dallas a huge favorite vs. Golden State

Previewing Wednesday’s Golden State Warriors vs. Dallas Mavericks sports betting odds and lines, with NBA matchup analysis, picks and tips.

The Dallas Mavericks (8-5) host the Golden State Warriors (3-12) Wednesday at American Airlines Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET. We analyze the Warriors-Mavericks odds and lines, with NBA betting advice and tips around the matchup.

Place a legal sports bet on this NBA action or other games at BetMGM.

Warriors at Mavericks: Key injuries

Warriors

  • PF Draymond Green (elbow) questionable
  • PG D’Angelo Russell (thumb) out
  • SF Damion Lee (hand) out
  • PG Stephen Curry (hand) out
  • SG Jacob Evans (groin) out
  • PF Alen Smailagic (ankle) out
  • C Kevon Looney (hamstring) out
  • SG Klay Thompson (knee) out

Mavericks

  • PG Seth Curry (illness) questionable

Warriors at Mavericks: Odds, lines, picks and betting tips

NBA odds courtesy of BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports for a full set of today’s betting odds. Odds last updated at 11:45 a.m. ET.

Prediction

Mavericks 128, Warriors 98

Moneyline (ML)

The host Mavericks are laying -1000 against a Warriors (+650) lineup that’s a shell of it’s opening-day self. Green was able to play through a minor injury in Tuesday’s 114-95 road victory over the Memphis Grizzlies, but he could sit out the second half of the back-to-back. The Mavericks have won two straight home games over the Toronto Raptors and San Antonio Spurs to improve to 4-3 at home for the season. They were off Tuesday night.

A bet on the Mavericks to win outright at this price would return a profit of just $1. This line is approaching what we often see in lopsided college matchups. Pass on this and play the spread.

Line/Against the Spread (ATS)

Take the MAVERICKS (-14.5, -105). The Warriors are 6-9 against the spread overall and 4-4 on the road. The Mavericks are 6-7 overall ATS and 2-5 at home. The back-to-back situation for the visitors along with the potential new absence of Green sways this heavily toward the hosts.

Golden State is outscored by an average of 8.3 points per game (117.4-109.1) while Dallas wins by an average of 3.3 points (114.1-110.8). The Mavs will cruise to the finish with several starters unlikely to see the floor in the fourth quarter.

Over/Under (O/U)

Following suit, take the OVER 215.5 (-128). The Mavericks will do the heavy lifting here in a rout.

Dallas ranks second in the NBA with a record of 9-4 against the Over/Under. Golden State is 8-7 with its opponents taking care of the majority of the projected totals in its games.

Want some action in this one? Place a bet at BetMGM now. For more sports betting tips, visit SportsbookWire.com.

Esten’s NBA betting record: 32-34

Follow @EstenMcLaren and @SportsbookWire on Twitter.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services.  Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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The Dallas Mavericks new City jerseys are really, really bad

Twitter had a field day roasting these.

As a lifelong NBA fan, I’ve seen my fair share of hideous NBA jerseys. A few immediately come to mind. Think the gold and black Wizards jerseys, the Spurs’ black camouflage military appreciation night joints, and especially those weird golden Kings jerseys — just thinking about them gives me chills.

With that being said, the new Dallas Mavericks City jerseys for this season absolutely take the cake. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything this bad before.

The font looks like it was pulled out of some kid’s 5th grade coloring book. Also, fam, since when was this much lime green acceptable in literally any walk of life? Look at these.

Poor Kristaps Porzingis. For him to have to stand in front of that backdrop and strike a “how do you do, fellow kids?” pose like that is a Latvian tragedy. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, do not make Luka Doncic wear this.

Here’s a closer look.

The jerseys will debut on November 26 when Dallas plays the Clippers. Apparently, the team’s theme for the jerseys is art and basketball which, uh, sure this is art.

Twitter roast sessions are normally unwarranted and unnecessary. But in this case? Twitter was absolutely correct and fans didn’t hold back at all.

At the end of the day, these are bad. But they’re only just jerseys and these are only just jokes. The Mavericks are still good and Luka Doncic is still spectacular, so you have a lot to look forward to this season Mavs fans.

Just know that whatever lies ahead also comes with seeing these jerseys 22 times throughout this year.

6 mind-blowing stats that prove Luka Doncic is an MVP favorite

The Luka Doncic Era has arrived.

To paraphrase from something LeBron James recently said to Luka Doncic (and also reiterated in an Instagram story from Monday night), the Dallas Mavericks star is one bad, bad man.

On Monday night in a win over the San Antonio Spurs, the second-year stud had a game for the ages with 42 points, 11 rebounds, 12 assists and a 5-of-13 night from beyond the arc.

And now we get to throw his name into the early NBA MVP mix with the Dallas Mavericks right in the thick of the Western Conference contenders at 8-5.

Seriously. Have you seen his numbers this year? Let’s get into what he did on Monday night and what he’s done so far with some jaw-dropping stats.

1.

Doncic and LeBron are the only players with a 40-point triple-double pre-age 21. That’s SCARY.

2.

3.

The season is still young, but … whoa.

4.

This needs updating — he had triple double No. 14 on Monday.

5.

This might be my favorite stat of all. Doncic continues to destroy defenders both inside (without dunks!) AND with that step-back three that might be one of the NBA’s most unstoppable shots:

6.

The stat here? He was the third overall pick in 2018, behind Deandre Ayton and Marvin Bagley … which the Suns and Kings might regret.

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The HoopsHype Daily: Luka Doncic has been playing like a legit MVP candidate, and he’s not slowing down

Doncic started the year off hot, and he’s only getting better. A 42-point triple-double last night had Doncic looking like a future MVP.

MVP PERFORMANCE FOR LUKA: Luka Doncic exploded yet again on Monday night, dropping 42 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists against the Spurs, including this huge shot to seal the victory for Dallas. At 20 years and 263 days old, he’s the youngest player to ever post a 42-point triple-double, surpassing LeBron James, the previous owner of the record, who did it when he was already 21.

On the year, Doncic is now averaging 29.5 points (fifth overall league-wide), 10.7 rebounds (12th league-wide) and 9.3 assists (second league-wide) per game. He’s the only player this season posting a 29/10/9 stat line, and he’s doing it as a 20-year-old, which is just unfathomable.

🏦 Oh, and he’s currently just the 160th-highest paid player in the league, making Doncic by far the best value contract in the league. Like the NFL strategy of drafting an elite quarterback and spending on filling out the rest of the roster, the Mavericks have a great chance to build a sustainable winner over the next couple of seasons, before Doncic gets his max extension.

Then again, even when the Slovenian superstar is earning a max salary, he’ll still be worth every penny, so the Mavericks are set as long as they have Doncic leading the way.

LEBRON-AD CONNECTION: LeBron James is passing the ball to Anthony Davis more often than any other past teammate, including Dwyane Wade, Kyrie Irving and Chris Bosh.

NEW POD: Alex Kennedy is joined by The Rookie Wire’s Cody Taylor to evaluate the top first-year players in the league this season.

LOVE HAPPY IN CLEVELAND: Cavs big man Kevin Love has heard the trade chatter, but he’s staying loyal to the Cavaliers… for now.

VETERAN WAIVED: The Rockets announced on Monday that they were waiving veteran big man Ryan Anderson. He hasn’t been effective in a few years now, so this might be it for him.

MORE MISSED TIME: Kawhi Leonard missed his third game in a row last night due to a left knee contusion.

LAST NIGHT IN THE ASSOCIATION: Two noteworthy streaks continued in the NBA last night – one good and one bad.

🚀 As far as the good one: The Rockets won their eighth game in a row, obliterating the struggling Blazers 132-109 behind a 36-point effort from James Harden. Harden’s been so insanely productive as a scorer this season that dropping merely 36 points actually brought his scoring average down from 39.5 points per game to 39.2.

😳 And now for the bad: The Spurs dropped their sixth game in a row, falling to Dallas 117-110. That losing streak matches their longest since Gregg Popovich’s first full season as head coach, all the way back in… 1997-98. It’s starting to look more and more like this could be the first season San Antonio misses the playoffs since 1996-97.

NEW LEVEL UNLOCKED: Coming into this season, Jimmy Butler had never averaged more than 5.5 assists. This year, he’s at 7.2 with an impressive 31.8 percent assist rate. His teammate and head coach discuss his new playmaking chops.

NO RINGS FOR YOU: The Raptors won’t be giving any of the players they traded mid-season last year – Jonas Valanciunas, Delon Wright or CJ Miles – championship rings. Mind you, Drake did get a championship ring from Toronto. So did one of their super fans. Not the best look.

WINGS WHO BOARD: The Ringer theorizes that the next great market inefficiency in the NBA will be wings who rebound the ball well.

LOAD MANAGEMENT, CONTINUED: There are more ways to load manage a player besides making them sit out games; the Thunder are leaders in this field.

MALICE REVISITED: The Athletic interviewed former NBA commissioner David Stern to relive Malice in the Palace, with a focus on all of the events that followed it.

GAME, BLOUSES: Dave Chapelle showed up at Lakers practice yesterday. That is a thing that happened.

SUPERMAN’S HOME FOR SALE: Shaq is selling his 5200-square foot home for $2.5 million.

Z-BO ON A FAR AND DISTANT LAND: Zach Randolph, now a part owner of a team in the NBL, gives his thoughts on Australia. 

NEW TNT SIDELINE REPORTER: Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes will be TNT’s new sideline reporter on Tuesday nights.

SALARY QUIZ: WHO’S THIS NBA PLAYER? 🤔

Click here for the answer.

📧 You can get this in your email inbox every morning. Just need to subscribe here.

Mavericks-Knicks odds: Dallas handily favored in New York

Previewing Thursday’s Dallas Mavericks at New York Knicks sports betting odds and lines, with NBA matchup analysis and picks.

The New York Knicks (2-9) face the Dallas Mavericks (6-4) Thursday night just after 8 pm ET at Madison Square Garden. We analyze the Knicks-Mavericks sports betting odds and lines, with NBA betting advice and tips around the matchup.

Place a legal sports bet on this NBA action or other games at BetMGM.

Mavericks at Knicks: Key injuries

Knicks

  • Mitchell Robinson (concussion) questionable.
  • Reggie Bullock (back) out.
  • Elfrid Payton (hamstring) still out.

Mavericks at Knicks: Odds, lines, picks, and betting tips

NBA odds courtesy of BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports for a full set of today’s betting odds. Odds last updated at 9:30 a.m. ET.

Prediction

Mavericks 109, Knicks 104

Moneyline (ML)

The MAVERICKS (-295) are 6-4 on the moneyline, while the Knicks (+230) are just 2-9. Dallas is 4-1 straight up on the road. The Knicks are 1-3 at home on the season.

New to sports betting? A $10 bet on the Mavericks to win outright returns a profit of just $3.39.

Line/Against the Spread (ATS)

The Mavericks are 6.5-point favorites at -121.

Dallas has lost two of its last three games but is facing the 30th-place team in the NBA. New York is 5-6 ATS which is better than Dallas’ 4-6 mark. New York has failed to cover by 5.0 points per game. This is one to AVOID.

Over/Under (O/U)

The projected total is set at 216.5. It seems like a somewhat high number and Dallas and New York could struggle a little bit offensively in this game. The Knicks have dropped under 100 points per game which is even more telling.

New York beat Dallas in the first matchup 106-102 on November 8th.

Take the UNDER (+105).

Want some action on this game? Place a bet at BetMGM now. For more sports betting tips and advice, visit SportsbookWire.com.

Follow @ChrisWasselDFS and @SportsbookWire on Twitter.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services.  Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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NBA MVP Race: Young stars are off to a hot start

Each week, HoopsHype ranks the Top 10 candidates for this season’s Most Valuable Player award. Find out who made this week’s rankings!

Each week, HoopsHype’s staff ranks the Top 10 candidates for this season’s Most Valuable Player award. This list highlights stars who have entered the 2019-20 MVP discussion thanks to their impressive play.

Which stars have stood out thus far? Who can sustain this production as the sample size increases? Here are our latest MVP rankings:

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

10. ANDRE DRUMMOND, DETROIT

STATS: 21.2 PPG, 18.0 RPG, 3.6 APG, 2.1 BPG, 1.5 SPG, 56.8 FG%

Drummond has been dominant through the first 10 games of the season. It’s impressive when a player has a single 20-point, 20-rebound performance, but the 26-year-old is nearly averaging that. He’s scored 20 or more points in six games, and he’s grabbed 20 or more rebounds in five games. He’s also doing a good job of finding open teammates, as he’s averaging 5.4 assists in November (and he has 25 assists in his last four games). Drummond is posting video-game numbers and shows no sign of slowing down. The Pistons are getting Blake Griffin back from injury, which should only help them as they look to improve their record (4-6) and climb up the Eastern Conference standings.

Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports

9. KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS, MINNESOTA

STATS: 25.6 PPG, 12.7 RPG, 4.0 APG, 3.7 3PG, 1.7 BPG, 1.6 SPG

Towns missed two games due to his suspension for fighting Joel Embiid, but he’s been a beast in the seven contests in which he’s played. He’s posting career-highs across the board and he’s been able to score the ball with ease this season, inside and out. In fact, Towns has more than doubled his three-point attempts (from 4.6 last year to 9.3 this year), yet his three-point percentage has stayed at 40.0 percent. His 3.7 threes per game is fourth in the NBA behind only James Harden (4.3), Damian Lillard (4.0) and Kemba Walker (3.8). Minnesota is currently 5-4, which is ninth-best in the Western Conference and just two games out of first place.

Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports

8. DEVIN BOOKER, PHOENIX

STATS: 25.8 PPG, 5.4 APG, 3.3 RPG, 2.8 3PG, 54.5 FG%, 53.2 3PT%

HoopsHype’s Frank Urbina recently wrote a great article breaking down Booker’s impressive start to the season and what he’s doing differently this year. The 23-year-old is playing the most efficient basketball of his career, finishing in the paint better than ever and locking down opponents on the defensive end. Newcomers Aron Baynes and Ricky Rubio have made a huge difference for Booker too. The Suns are the NBA’s biggest surprise thus far, sitting at 6-3 with the league’s third-best offense (scoring 109.1 points per 100 possessions) and ninth-best defense (allowing 101.1 points per 100 possessions). There’s no question that Booker is a huge reason for their early success. The red-hot Suns will face off against the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday in a game that will feature three players from this list.

Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

7. JAMES HARDEN, HOUSTON

STATS: 37.1 PPG, 8.2 APG, 5.6 RPG, 4.3 3PG, 1.3 SPG, 39.4 FG%

Harden is once again leading the league in scoring. The main issue for Harden (and the reason he isn’t higher on this list) has been his shooting percentages. He’s currently shooting an ugly 39.4 percent from the field and 30.0 percent from three-point range – both of which are career-lows. It’s taking him 24.2 field goal attempts (and 14.4 three-point attempts) per game to get to his 37.1 scoring average. Those numbers must drastically improve if he wants to compete for this year’s MVP award. There’s always an adjustment period when a team is integrating a new star and that’s what Harden and the Rockets are doing with Russell Westbrook. Still, Houston is 6-3, which is tied for the third-best record in the Western Conference.

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

6. ANTHONY DAVIS, LOS ANGELES

STATS: 26.6 PPG, 10.2 RPG, 3.2 APG, 3.1 BPG, 1.2 SPG, 48.3 FG%

There’s a reason LeBron James badly wanted to team up with this guy. Davis is once again filling the stat sheet and making his presence felt all over the court, helping the Lakers win seven of their first nine games. He gives opposing head coaches nightmares, as he’s been the best rim protector in the league and he’s scoring at will. Davis is currently ranked first in Defensive Win Shares (0.9) and third in Win Shares (1.7, tied with James). He’s new to the Lakers and still getting acclimated, but you’d never know it based on his early play. It remains to be seen if voters will dock points from James and/or Davis because they’re on the same team. Opposing teams certainly hate that these two stars teamed up, as they’ve struggled to slow them down thus far.

Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports

5. DAMIAN LILLARD, PORTLAND

STATS: 33.0 PPG, 6.8 APG, 5.2 RPG, 4.0 3PG, 1.3 SPG, 49.3 FG%

Lillard is having the best season of his career, but he can only do so much for the Blazers. He’s getting little help from his supporting cast, which is why the Blazers are 4-6 and in 10th place in the Western Conference despite Lillard playing out of his mind. That was on display in Portland’s recent loss to the Brooklyn Nets, when Lillard had 60 points (including 7 threes), 5 assists and 4 rebounds while shooting 57.6 percent from the field and 43.8 percent from deep, but the Nets won 119-115. Injuries have been an issue for the Blazers, but they also have a new-look roster after losing Al-Farouq Aminu, Maurice Harkless, Evan Turner, Meyers Leonard, Enes Kanter and Seth Curry among others. Still, Lillard is averaging the second-most points in the league while also ranking first in Win Shares (2.4) and second in Value Over Replacement Player (1.1).

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

4. KAWHI LEONARD, LOS ANGELES

STATS: 29.0 PPG, 8.1 RPG, 5.4 APG, 2.1 SPG, 1.6 3PG, 1.1 BPG

Leonard’s decision to sit out the nationally televised showdown against the Milwaukee Bucks relaunched the load-management debate. It seems that Leonard will continue to sit out during back-to-backs to ensure that he’s 100 percent for the playoffs. Leonard credits load management for his monster 2019 postseason with the Toronto Raptors and while this is probably a smart move for the Clippers, it likely means Leonard won’t have a shot at winning this year’s MVP award. Voters seem to disqualify players who rest, regardless of how productive they are when they play. HoopsHype looked at the last 15 MVP winners and they missed an average of 3.93 games in their MVP season (with no player missing more than 10 games). Leonard missed 22 games last season and he’s on pace to miss 18 contests this year, which would seemingly remove him from the MVP discussion (like last year). Still, Leonard is playing well and the Clippers are 6-3, which is tied for the third-best record in the West. If the Clippers stop resting Leonard – or the NBA decides that he’s healthy and must play – perhaps he becomes a serious candidate.

Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports

3. LUKA DONCIC, DALLAS

STATS: 27.7 PPG, 10.8 RPG, 9.1 APG, 2.8 3PG, 1.2 SPG, 48.0 FG%

Doncic is the only player in the league who currently ranks Top 11 in points per game (sixth), assists per game (second) and rebounds per game (11th). As if Luka’s counting stats weren’t impressive enough, his advanced stats jump off the page as well: Doncic ranks third in Value Over Replacement Player (1.0), fourth in Box Plus/Minus (10.3) and fifth in Win Shares (1.6). The 20-year-old is the youngest player in NBA history to record 10 or more triple-doubles, passing LeBron James and Magic Johnson. He also became the second player with at least three 20-point triple-doubles in the first six games of a season, joining Oscar Robertson. Doncic must continue to limit his turnovers (4.9 per game) and improve his three-point percentage (32.1 percent on 8.7 attempts per game). But that feels like nitpicking when the kid is nearly averaging a triple-double and winning games for the Mavericks, who are 6-3 (which is tied for the third-best record in the West).

Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports

2. GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO, MILWUKEE

STATS: 29.7 PPG, 14.3 RPG, 6.8 APG, 1.6 BPG, 1.3 SPG, 58.5 FG%

Antetokounmpo had an MVP performance in the Bucks’ win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday. After struggling in the first half, Antetokounmpo ripped his jersey and kicked a hole in a Thunder sign while walking back to the locker room at halftime. In the second half, MVP Giannis showed up and he finished the game with 35 points, 16 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 threes, 1 block and 1 steal while shooting an efficient 68.4 percent from the field and 66.7 percent from three-point range. Antetokounmpo has now scored 30 or more points in five-straight games. The Bucks are 7-3, which puts them in third place in the Eastern Conference and just one game back from the top-seeded Boston Celtics. Antetokounmpo currently leads all players in Value Over Replacement Player (1.3), Box Plus/Minus (13.9) and Win Shares Per 48 Minutes (.325).

Quinn Harris-USA TODAY Sports

1. LEBRON JAMES, LOS ANGELES

STATS: 24.6 PPG, 11.0 APG, 8.3 RPG, 1.7 3PG, 1.2 SPG, 47.3 FG%

As Tommy Beer of Forbes recently pointed out, no player in NBA history has ever averaged more than 7.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 7.0 assists in their age-35 season. Well, James is currently posting those marks with ease (24.6 points, 8.3 rebounds, 11.0 assists). When all is said and done, one could make the argument that James was the best teenager in NBA history (he holds the NBA record for most career points, rebounds and assists before turning 20 years old) and the best mid-30s player in NBA history (if he keeps this up). LeBron’s longevity is remarkable; in the load-management era, he’s playing 35.1 minutes per game, which is the most of any Laker and 12th-most in the league. James is currently No. 1 on this list because his individual production has been impressive and it’s translated into team success, as the Lakers currently have the NBA’s second-best record at 7-2. One area where James must improve is his three-point shooting; he’s attempting 5.2 threes per game, but he’s making just 31.9 percent thus far.