Richard W. Rodriguez/Associated Press
San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich offered lofty praise for Dallas Mavericks rookie Luka Doncic on Wednesday, per Mavs play-by-play announcer Mark Followill:
Mark Followill @MFollowill
Great stuff from Gregg Popovich. Before the game, Pop was asked what stands out to him about Luka https://t.co/gfGPnE8T0L
The 19-year-old Doncic averaged 20.2 points, 6.7 rebounds and 5.0 assists entering his game against San Antonio on Wednesday. He’s also helped engineer a significant year-to-year turnaround in Dallas, as the 20-23 Mavs only need five more wins to beat their victory total from last season.
Fans have taken a liking to Doncic as well, as the ex-Real Madrid star has the fourth-most All-Star votes in the league.
You don’t have to go far to find people breaking down Doncic’s accolades, and that fact rings more true of late.
Remarkably, the Mavs’ point forward has averaged 28.0 points, 6.8 rebounds and 6.0 assists in the four games leading into Wednesday. Per NBA.com, Doncic also joined some impressive company recently:
NBA.com/Stats @nbastats
Luka Doncic has now scored 25+ PTS in 4 straight games.. the last rookie to do that was Stephen Curry in 2010 (5 games). https://t.co/kcPrS4kF4v
Justin Kubatko of StatMuse provided an eye-popping stat as well:
Justin Kubatko @jkubatko
Luka Doncic is just the third teenager in NBA history to record at least 25 points, five rebonds, and five assists in consecutive games. The others are LeBron James (2x) and Kyrie Irving. https://t.co/Etggs7US3r
And Zach Lowe of ESPN pointed out how clutch Doncic is in tight games:
Zach Lowe @ZachLowe_NBA
Luka Doncic is now 13-of-20, and 4-of-7 from deep, in the last three minutes of games when the score is within three points. (via NBA-dot-com)
The list of Doncic facts is endless, but earning praise from Popovich is a high honor for someone who doesn’t turn 20 years old until February 28. A five-time NBA champion, Popovich has seen a litany of NBA legends up close. He coached the Spurs at the tail end of Michael Jordan’s career with the Bulls and is still leading San Antonio in his 23rd season.
The Spurs and Mavs face each other twice more, including a matchup in the regular-season finale.
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