Anthony Davis joins wild Luka Doncic franchise club in Mavericks debut
Yesterday at 08:41 PM
The Dallas Mavericks are still undefeated since the stunning Luka Doncic trade they made ahead of the deadline. After beating the reigning NBA champions Boston Celtics on the road last Thursday, 127-120, the Mavs took down the Houston Rockets at home Saturday night, 116-105. The Rockets game was highly anticipated not only because it was Dallas’ first at home since the Doncic trade but also due to Anthony Davis’ Mavericks debut.
Davis shined right away in this new chapter of his basketball career, as he led the Mavericks with 26 points on 10-for-18 shooting from the floor while also grabbing 16 rebounds, dishing out seven assists and swatting away three Rockets shot attempts. He could have done more, but he was forced to leave the game in the third quarter after sustaining what appeared to be a lower-body injury.
Anthony Davis did most of his damage in the first half, where he dropped 24 points and pulled down 13 boards along with his five dimes. With that, the former Kentucky Wildcats star managed to join an extremely rare group of Mavs players to have at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in a half, according to the NBA. Doncic did it with the Mavericks twice while franchise legend Michael Finley had such a half once during his time with Dallas.
“Anthony Davis becomes the 3rd player in @dallasmavs franchise history to record 20+ points, 10+ rebounds and 5+ assists in any half (since recorded in the play-by-play era),” the NBA shared in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Anthony Davis leads Dallas in Mavs debut
The Mavericks didn’t rely entirely on Davis to beat Houston. Max Christie, another player part of the three-team trade between the Mavs, Lakers and Utah Jazz, came off the bench and fired 23 points in his second game with Dallas. Christie now has 38 points through two games in Dallas colors. Naji Marshall chipped in 16 points while Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson each contributed 13 points for the Mavericks, who improved to 28-25 in the NBA standings.
It remains to be seen whether Davis will be able to play in the next Dallas game, which will be on Monday at home against the Sacramento Kings.
So far in the 2024-25 NBA regular season, Davis has averaged 25.7 points, 12.0 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.2 blocks while shooting 52.8 percent from the field across 43 games.
The post Anthony Davis joins wild Luka Doncic franchise club in Mavericks debut appeared first on ClutchPoints.
