LUKA DONCIC of the Dallas Mavericks and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder are among the NBA’s brightest stars. Both finished in the top three of Most Valuable Player voting last season, with Gilgeous-Alexander finishing second and Doncic third.
On Tuesday, the Mavericks and host Thunder square off in the first round of the NBA Cup’s knockout stage.
The game is a rematch of last season’s second-round playoff series, which Dallas won 4-2.
Doncic has been particularly hot since returning from a right wrist sprain that kept him out five games in late November. In four games since his return, Doncic is averaging 31 points, 10.5 rebounds and 9.5 assists per game.
Doncic comes into Tuesday’s game with two consecutive triple-doubles.
In Saturday’s win at the Toronto Raptors, Doncic had 30 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists to move past Wilt Chamberlain and James Harden and into seventh on the NBA’s all-time triple-double list with 79.
In last season’s playoff matchup, Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 32.2 points, 8 rebounds and 7.3 assists. Doncic averaged 24.7 points, 10.5 rebounds and 8.7 assists, with a triple-double in each of the final three games of the series.
Gilgeous-Alexander has scored at least 30 points in six of his past seven games this season.
Oklahoma City has won seven of its past eight games, including three consecutive, while the Mavericks enter the contest as the NBA’s hottest team with seven straight wins.
Tuesday’s game, which also counts in the regular-season standings, will be the second between the teams this season.
Doncic missed the Mavericks’ 121-119 win on Nov. 17 in Oklahoma City with a bruised right knee. P.J. Washington had 27 points and a career-high 17 rebounds in that game for Dallas.
That tight game has become the norm for the series as of late, as six of the past nine regular-season meetings between the teams have been decided by single digits. — Reuters
