A Pistons Assistant Coach Tried To Talk Shit To Luka Doncic, So Luka Immediately Responded By Dropping 53 Points Right In His Face

Ron Jenkins. Getty Images.

After missing just one game after messing up his foot/ankle against the Suns, Luka Doncic returned to the floor last night at home against the Pistons for a game the Mavs really needed. After dropping that game without Luka over the weekend against the Jazz, the Mavs found themselves in a little mini rut where they had lost 3 of 4 and started to really flirt with the Play In. They have the same record as PHX (which is why their win on the 26th was big), but safe to say a home game against the 13-39 Pistons with Luka back in the lineup is the perfect opportunity to get back on track.

The final tally? No big deal, just the second biggest scoring night of Luka's career

If it feels like Luka is dropping 50+ points a lot this season, it's because 4 of those 5 50+ point games have come in 2022-23. He did it 3 times in December and then again last night, and when you look at the final box score you get an idea of why Mavs fans are begging Mark Cuban to bring Luka some help

That scoring distribution is about as brutal as it gets. I have no idea how this is going to be sustainable for when the games truly matter and playoff defenses ramp up and take things away, but if you're someone who is pushing the Lula MVP narrative, nights like this can only help.

But we already knew this about the Mavs/Luka, so this is not a blog about how Luka is awesome and his teammates stink. This is about what Luka had to say postgame

Honest question. How stupid do you have to be as an assistant coach to chirp Luka? On what planet is that ever going to work out well for you? Even if you want to try and chirp him early in an effort to get in his head, Luka is one of the best first quarter players in the entire league

In this game alone Luka started with 24 POINTS ON 7-8 (4-5) SHOOTING in that first quarter. I bet that assistant felt like a gigantic asshole as he continued to watch Luka stuff it down the Pistons' throat, probably all because he was fired up about that chirping.

It actually reminded me of something that happened last February involving this exact same Pistons team. An assistant (who used to be in BOS) decided to chirp Jayson Tatum for a slow start coming out of the break. He then immediately destroyed the Pistons in the 3rd quarter

Here's an idea for the Pistons coaching staff. Stop chirping the best players in the NBA. It never, ever, ever works out well for you and it only makes things worse. The last thing a talent like Luka needs is extra motivation, he's hard enough to stop as is. When he feels like it's time to prove a point, you get performances like last night.

The good news for DAL is they sit just 0.5 games back of a top 4 seed. The bad news is the Warriors have already jumped them and they're tied with PHX at 27-25. This is a team that needs to figure their shit out on the road (9-16) if they are going to fall outside of the top 4 and not have homecourt, and teams like PHX/NO/MIN are all right on their heels. What the Mavs do at the deadline is going to be fascinating because they clearly need help, but who knows how much they can actually do to improve this roster given what they have to work with.