Former Clippers star Lou Williams recently appeared on a recent edition of the ‘Run It Back‘ podcast alongside Shams Charania, where he addressed a lot of NBA hot topics. Perhaps the most interesting thing they talked about was Luka Doncic’s incredible streak of 30-point triple-double games, and how it unfortunately ended recently against the Chicago Bulls. But while many regretted the fact that Jason Kidd talked the Mavs superstar out of the game early, Williams has sided with the Mavericks head coach completely on the matter, bringing up Derrick Rose as his reasoning.
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The Dallas Mavericks recently faced off against the Chicago Bulls at United Center, which turned out to be a pretty one-sided affair. Due to this, Jason Kidd elected to take Doncic out of the game with half of the fourth quarter still left to play. By the time the final buzzer sounded, Dallas had won with a score of 127-92, with Doncic finishing with 27 points, 14 assists, and 12 rebounds, as per NBA.com. While his stats from the game are still very impressive, his streak of consecutive games with 30-point triple-doubles came to an end at six, as a result of his early departure.
This move by Kidd came up as a topic of interest during Williams’ time on Run It Back, where the former player was asked whether Jason Kidd should have let Luka stay in the game. Despite the other co-hosts seeming to have an inclination toward Doncic staying in the contest, ‘Lemon Pepper Lou’ was heavily against it. The following were his words on the matter.
“Nah [Luka Doncic shouldn’t have stayed in the game]. Get him out of there! Listen, I’ve been on the other side of this. Playoffs, I was on the Sixers, and [the Bulls] were up by around 20-25, with about two and half-three minutes to go in the fourth quarter of Game one of the playoffs, and Derrick Rose tore his ACL. And that eventually led to us upsetting the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the playoffs.
So, you don’t want to leave a guy in, based on numbers. Luka [Doncic] got plenty of stats. He doesn’t need another 30. So no.”
The story of Derrick Rose is one that pains fans’ hearts to this day. Having been crowned the youngest MVP in NBA history [per StatMuse], the then-Bulls star had a very bright future ahead of him. However, being in a game he didn’t need to be, altered his career forever. Rose would go on to look like a shadow of himself for a long, long time before he finally recovered himself as a player nearly a decade later. The 35-year-old is now a respectable role player on the Grizzlies, but a far cry from the generational superstar he could’ve been.
That is a fate that Doncic must look to avoid at all costs. The star player should be happy that he set an NBA record for the highest streak of 30-point games [as per NBA.com] and now should set his focus on resting his body a bit more before the playoffs. So, while it would have been nice for the star to continue his impressive streak, it is very hard to argue with Lou Williams’ point.
Luka Doncic’s season so far
Luka Doncic is having a stellar season at the moment. The 25-year-old is currently averaging 34.6 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 9.9 assists, a near triple-double, as per Basketball Reference. Further, while his 30-point triple-double streak may have broken, he is now tied with Michael Jordan, and Oscar Robertson’s record for most consecutive 20-point triple-doubles, with seven, as per ESPN.
That said, while these numbers are very impressive, Doncic is likely more concerned about something else entirely. After all, at the moment, the Mavericks are stuck as the 8th seed, a spot that does not guarantee a berth in the playoffs. Rather, teams that stand between the 7th and the 10th seed in either conference will have to go through the play-in tournament to win one of the two spots available in the playoffs.
The Slovenian superstar and his team are in a good spot at the moment, having won their last three games. However, the team has also only won 5 of their last 10, which is not satisfactory by any stretch of the imagination. On the season overall, the franchise has a record 37-28 [per NBA.com], which is not something the Mavericks can feel comfortable about, given the talent they have on their roster.
With Luka Doncic clearly being the leader in Dallas, he has the responsibility of rallying his troops to elevate their form as the most important stretch of the regular season gets underway. If he can do so adequately, awards will undoubtedly follow.
