West Notes: Mavs, Luka Doncic, Kings, Pelicans, Zion Williamson

Mavs

The Mavs’ road walloping of the Kings on Tuesday was one of their most impressive performances of the season, as they led by 39 points at one point in the second half.

Interestingly, Luka Doncic did most of his damage in the first half, when he scored 26 of his 28 points. He also racked up 11 rebounds, six assists and three steals. 

“I thought just the plays for one another, on both ends, offensively and defensively, was at a high,” coach Jason Kidd told reporters. … “We’re just trying to take what’s in front of us and play the game that’s in front of us, take the one possession that’s in front of us to get better.”

• The win catapulted the Mavs to sixth place in the Western Conference standings, moving the Kings to seventh, as both aim to avoid the play-in tournament.

Kings

The Kins were throttled by the Mavericks on Tuesday but coach Mike Brown suggested it’s one way for the team to find out more about itself.

“This is a great time for us to see if we have it within ourselves to go out and play the right way,” Brown told reporters. “You don’t want to walk away from a game, if you can help it, with a bad taste in your mouth knowing that there are a lot of things out on the floor that we could’ve done better. Just by keeping the game simple, just by doing what we do.”

• Dallas outscored Sacramento by a whopping 74-43 count in the second half. “In the second half we played horrible,” point guard De’Aaron Fox said. “I think it was probably one of our worst halves of the season.”
• For the record, the Kings are 0-9 when failing to hit 100 points this season. They’ll get another shot at the Mavs on Friday. “Offensively, watching us play tonight, I’m a little surprised how we played,” Brown said.

Pelicans

Power forward Zion Williamson didn’t take a shot in the final three minutes of a close, playoff-like home loss to the Thunder on Tuesday. He still finished with 29 points and 10 assists to give New Orleans a fighting chance.

“We were kind of stagnant and I definitely got to demand the ball more in those situations,” he said.

Despite the loss, Williamson added it was a great game all the way around.

“This is what being competitive is all about,” he said. “These games are fun to play in. We didn’t get the result we wanted tonight, but games like this, when I watch playoff basketball, this is what games look like — just down the wire, teams make runs and whoever stays the most disciplined gets the win. So, I’m excited for this stretch.”

• In case you missed it, the Pelicans assigned guard Dyson Daniels to the G League as he continues to recover from knee surgery. We have the full post here.