(AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Wednesday night, Mavericks guard Luka Doncic was out (rest) on the second game of a back to back against the visiting Houston Rockets. The young Rockets would go on to defeat the Mavs, 101-92 with leading Maverick being Tim Hardaway Jr. with 28 points. Coach Jason Kidd said that “fatigue” may have been a factor for the performance as well as the team as a whole not “finishing at the rim” and “shooting the ball” well. It was a different result when the MVP hopeful returned Friday to face the Denver Nuggets who were without their star, current MVP Nikola Jokic. 

Mavericks Guard Luka Doncic (Nick White)

“It’s great. It feels amazing. … It’s a pleasure. I’m just really glad that I’m here and doing this.” – Luka Doncic

The Mavericks would maintain a lead throughout the game and resulted in them beating the Nuggets, 127-99. This would be the fourth instance that the Mavericks would hold their opponent to under 100 points this season and improved their record to 3-1 when they’ve done such a task. Christian Wood (featured image) would score a season high 28 points off the bench.

Center JaVale McGee also returned to the rotation (neck strain) Friday night, finishing the game with 10 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 blocks. He also pulled off a pretty nice spin move. When asked about it, he said, “It felt amazing. You know as a big man you usually don’t get to, well at least me personally, I don’t really to get into my bag a lot unless it’s the summer. So, it felt kind of good being able to do something else besides just catch lobs. But I love catching lobs – let me put that out there.”

The Mavericks will face the Nuggets again this Sunday at home before heading on a three game road trip out East.

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