The Dallas Mavericks won one of the craziest games of the season, surviving a shootout 143-133 against the Golden State Warriors on Sunday night in San Francisco.

From the opening tip until just before the final whistle, this game was an offensive tour de force by both teams – throwing shots back and forth was unreal, and the Mavericks managed to get just enough stops in the fourth quarter to make the difference.

Luka Doncic had an incredible game with 45 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists. He secured a 40-point triple-double at the end of the third quarter. Doncic appeared to be in top form, like many of the other Mavericks, after four nights off as the knockout round of the NBA Cup took place this week.

Things started hot early for both teams. Dallas scored 46 points in the first quarter and Golden State fired from behind the three-point line. The Warriors made an astonishing 18 three-pointers in the first half, as even though the Mavericks were pouncing from every spot on the court, they went into the locker room at halftime with just a seven-point lead.

The third quarter was a similar story, and it wasn’t until the fourth quarter that both teams finally began to cool off – it was the only quarter in which both teams didn’t score at least 30 points, with the Mavericks scoring only 29 and the Warriors at 26. In the end, it counted as a deciding game, with Golden State cutting the Mavericks’ lead to five at 138-133 with under five minutes left, but Dallas stayed composed and won the game at the free throw line down the stretch .

Klay Thompson scored a season-high 29 points with seven made three-pointers. Kyrie Irving had the quietest evening with 21 points and eight assists. PJ Washington returned to the lineup after recovering from illness, scored 13 points and turned heads early in the first quarter by scoring a post-up on the Mavericks’ first possession. Andrew Wiggins led the Warriors with 29 points while Steph Curry had 26. The Warriors finished with 27 three-pointers, a Mavericks franchise record for an opponent.

We noticed that when we won.

Luka Doncic looks like Luka Doncic again

There’s been a lot of talk about Luka Doncic’s performance early in the season, and not without reason – Doncic didn’t look brilliant compared to his usual MVP-caliber standard he’s set for himself in recent seasons. Doncic couldn’t get to the rim, his three-pointers weren’t falling, and he seemed to be in pain almost every other game.

Doncic injured his calf on the opening weekend of training camp and missed the entire preseason. A few weeks into the season, he injured his right knee, the same one he sustained in the 2024 playoffs. Then he pinched his groin. That’s three lower-body injuries in about two months, and it’s clearly taken a toll on Doncic’s performance. After a November 19 win against New Orleans, Doncic suffered a wrist sprain that would sideline him for about a week. The time off was much needed because since Doncic’s return he has looked fresh and like himself. This game against the Warriors is just the exclamation point at the end of that statement.

Doncic posted a 40-point triple-double through three quarters and finished with 45 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists. The beauty of Doncic’s performance tonight was that he really did it all – a three-point back, methodical pick-and-roll play, points in the paint, and heck, even a dunk! His first dunk of the season! To make it even better, Doncic notched more than a handful of assists and didn’t have to control the ball the entire game for the Mavericks to put together their most dominant offensive performance of the season. I counted a number of assisted field goals for Doncic tonight, showing that the Mavericks remain focused on getting Luka off the ball. Today’s performance shows that Doncic can still put up his eye-popping numbers without having to control every single possession.

Perhaps the easiest sign that Luka’s legs are healthy – he’s making threes again. Doncic drilled 6 of 11 from deep against the Warriors, his fourth game with at least four or more threes since returning from the wrist injury. This was his second game with at least six threes since returning.

This is the best stretch Doncic played all season, and the Mavericks still won games before He was starting to look like his MVP self. What is the ceiling of this Mavericks roster after Doncic hits form? A scary thought for the rest of the NBA.

Dallas controlled the boards

The Warriors are a good rebounding team, and their offensive rebound against the Mavericks in the 2022 Western Conference Finals so shook the Mavericks that their offseason priority this summer was to sign JaVale McGee. Dallas cleaned up against Golden State on Sunday and beat the Warriors 47:37.

Golden State still had plenty of offensive rebounds — 15 to be exact — but that’s not all that surprising considering the Warriors shot 54 three-pointers. While the Warriors made an incredible 27, that’s still 27 missed three-pointers, meaning 27 long rebound opportunities. So from that perspective, the Mavericks did well to limit the Warriors to just 15 offensive rebounds, even though the Warriors made those boards count with 24 second-chance points.

The Warriors tried to break through the Mavericks’ defensive philosophy

Since making the trades for Daniel Gafford and PJ Washington last February, the Mavericks’ defensive philosophy has been simple: defend the player at all costs, even if it means giving up a few three-pointers.

With Gafford and Dereck Lively guarding the rim and PJ Washington, Maxi Kleber and even Luka Doncic supporting defenders in the backline, the Mavericks use their size to their advantage and attempt to produce the most efficient and consistent shot in basketball: a layup or dunk. Sometimes that means the Mavericks are slowed down by three players, but Dallas has taken the risk that stifling a team’s best chances to score consistent offensive points (paint points) will result in them losing the battle for the jump. Win shot variation. Sometimes that philosophy is put to the test, especially against teams like Oklahoma City and Boston.

Golden State is another one of those teams. It’s hard to use this strategy against a team like the Warriors, who don’t score at the rim very often anyway and like to shoot a lot of threes. Dallas was hurt badly in the first half, with Golden State making 18 three-pointers. The warriors only managed nine goals in the second half as the Mavericks rightly speculated that the Warriors could not sustain their rapid shooting. The Warriors shot 12 of 20 from inside the restricted area (60 percent, below league average) and just 10 of 24 from outside the restricted area (41.7 percent, slightly below league average). Dallas challenged Golden State at times to keep up the crazy three-point shots, and the Warriors couldn’t maintain that number for four quarters.