Luka Doncic applauded the "amazing" Shai Gilgeous-Alexander after his starring role for the Oklahoma City Thunder against the Dallas Mavericks. (More NBA News)
The Thunder booked their place in the NBA Cup semi-fin꧋als following a 118-104 victory at Pay▨com Center.
Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with 39 points, eight rebounds and five assists, while shooting 15 for 23 from the field and fiv🥃e three-🌠pointers.
"Just a lot ofಞ times, it's hard to stop him," Doncic said. "I think at some point, you've got to se🌺nd two, three players [at Gilgeous-Alexander].
"It's amazꦺing playing against a 🐓guy like this, just the battles. It's fun, and he's an amazing player."
The Mavericks' seven-game winning streak screeched to a halt, with Doncic limited to just 16 po🍸ints and five-of-15 shooting, while he also committ🌃ed six of his side's 18 turnovers.
And theꦉ five-time NBA All-Star praised the defensive efforts of Dallas' opponents🎀.
"It's for a reason they're the number one defensive team in the league," he said. "They have great defensive players. They dꦆecided to double me every time, so give credit to them. I mean they played really, really, really good defence today."
Gilge♊ous-Alexander, who helped Oklahoma to their eighth win in n♊ine games, specifically paid tribute to team-mates Luguentz Dort and Cason Wallace for keeping Donic and Kyrie Irving generally quiet.
"Hell of a job by Lu and Cason," he 🔯said. "It's more impressive to hold them that low than it is for me to get 39 points.
"I think to hold those two that low really gave us a chance to win the game. We felt like we had control of the game because of that. Keeping those two in check like that is ve💟ry rare."
