Luka Doncic after making 3-point shot to beat Nets: ‘I practiced that shot’

Luka Doncic tied his 49 points with a 3-pointer with 26.3 seconds left and the Dallas Mavericks beat the Brooklyn Nets 125-120 in their home opener.

Under the watchful eye of former teammate Dorian Finney-Smith, who was well aware of the Slovenian’s abilities, Doncic pulled the latest magic trick out of his hat. That was the three-point shot on the backboard, according to the great protagonist of this night, is the resource you’ve been working on.

“I’m working on it,” Doncic said with a distinctive smile. “Working on the boards.” Doncic had a great game, adding 10 rebounds and seven assists.

“That’s a special Luka,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “He likes to take care of the ball in the final minutes, he loves those situations, and he finds a way to score.” said he is a player like Doncic. “At the end of the day, what makes this team special is that we have guys who can take tough shots, like Donovan (Mitchell of Cleveland) did against us the first night. Luka did it too.” Vaughn said.

Asked about his former teammate’s triple shot, Finney-Smith said Doncic didn’t want to take the shot on the boards, but Doncic denied it in the best way possible. “I said it in Slovenian, so he couldn’t understand it.”