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\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Like last time, the ovation was loud and long. But this time there were no Luka Doncic tears. As he predicted, Doncic\u2019s second game back in American Airlines Center proved less emotional than his first, but nonetheless his 33 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists and late-game defense propelled the Lakers to Saturday night\u2019s 116-110 comeback victory over the Mavericks.<\/p>\n
One week before the first anniversary of his still-shocking Feb. 1, 2025 trade from Dallas, Doncic improved his personal record against his former team to 4-0.<\/p>\n
When he returned to AAC last April 9, in the final week of the regular season, he wept during the pregame tribute video and then poured in 45 points in a 15-point Lakers win. \u201cOh, there\u2019s still emotions, trust me, but a little bit better, a little bit easier for me,\u201d he said Saturday. \u201cHow the fans accept me here, it\u2019s unbelievable. I\u2019ve still got a lot of friends here, players and some other people, so I\u2019m happy to be back a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the Lakers arrived Friday in soon-to-be-icy Dallas, Doncic went to the home he\u2019s maintained here and posted on Instagram a photo of one of his sports cars in the garage. Speaking of old homes, he played 6.5 seasons of home games in American Airlines Center, which explains a humorous moment at the end of Saturday\u2019s first half.<\/p>\n
Doncic tossed an alley-oop pass that Deandre Ayton failed to grab and extend the Lakers\u2019 65-52 lead before the buzzer. Doncic momentarily started toward the tunnel toward the Mavericks\u2019 locker room, then caught himself and turned toward the Lakers\u2019 tunnel. \u201cI didn\u2019t see that,\u201d Doncic said, smiling sheepishly.<\/p>\n
The Mavericks roared back in the second half, outscoring the Lakers 35-14 in the third quarter. But with Dallas leading 102-87 with 6:45 left in the game, AAC fans \u2013 many of them wearing No. 77 Mavericks and Lakers jerseys \u2013 witnessed a vintage Doncic finish.<\/p>\n
Lakers coach J.J. Redick called it an \u201cA-plus\u201d Doncic game \u2013 on both ends of the court. \u201cHe had six straight stops when they targeted him,\u201d Redick noted, singling out the game-sealing charge Doncic took from Mavericks forward Naji Marshall.<\/p>\n
Offensively, Redick said, Doncic, \u201cjust picked apart their defense down the stretch.\u201d Despite icy conditions that kept most North Texans off roadways, the arena was about 90% full at tip-off.<\/p>\n
Doncic, the 2018-19 NBA Rookie of the Year, was about to face off against the Mavericks\u2019 Cooper Flagg, this season\u2019s Rookie of the Year co-favorite with Charlotte\u2019s Kon Knueppel. Doncic and Flagg both got loud ovations during pregame introductions. The roar for Flagg seemed slightly louder, but the one for Doncic seemed to last longer, drowning out introductions of the next two Lakers starters.<\/p>\n
Sitting in one suite in AAC\u2019s corner above the Mavericks\u2019 bench, courtesy of Doncic, were 22 fans that Doncic selected as having been especially kind to him. \u201cI see what a lot of them did on social media.. when I got traded, you know how much support they gave me,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously, there\u2019s a lot more fans than that, but I could only pay for 22.\u201d<\/p>\n
Obviously his salary could have handled more, but what he meant to say is the suite only accommodates 22 people. Having experienced last season\u2019s welcome back for Doncic, the Lakers were braced for extra emotion from the fans, as well as from the Mavericks in trying to beat Doncic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe significance of this probably will be there for the rest of his career,\u201d Redick said. \u201cThis is where it started for him. It\u2019s where he made his first Finals appearance; where he was drafted. So the significance for our team is there, and it certainly is there for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doncic\u2019s Lakers co-star, LeBron James, knows all about the emotions of facing former teams, having played for four of them \u2013 including Cleveland twice. \u201cI think the most important thing is, just like his comfort, obviously, when you get traded midseason and he spent his first seven or eight years here, obviously was a shock to everybody,\u201d James said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always a special place,\u201d Doncic said. \u201cI always want to win no matter what, but obviously this one\u2019s a little bit different.\u201d Late in the fourth quarter, when Doncic twice went to the free-throw line, fans behind the basket held up signs that spelled out: COME HOME.<\/p>\n
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Luka Doncic’s Emotional Return to Dallas Like last time, the ovation was loud and long. But this time there were no Luka Doncic tears. As he predicted, Doncic\u2019s second game back in American Airlines Center proved less emotional than his first, but nonetheless his 33 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists and late-game defense propelled the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":21415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21413","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dmn-dallas-news-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com\/resizer\/v2\/R6NLMCM5ERFBJFK2KWUSX6G56U.jpg?auth=58170eb0eba0596322d432aece50d60b1817700586467e2df0915000ea7db60b&quality=80&width=1200&height=630&focal=1568,309","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21413"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21413"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21416,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21413\/revisions\/21416"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}