Having met the Utah Jazz the second time in five days – this time at the home court and with Kawhi Leonard – the Los Angeles Clippers got vengeance on for their last loss by defeating the opponents 105-94 at the Staples Center on Sunday.

This game could be seen as a rehearsal of the Western Conference semifinals. Unlike the Clippers' previous opponents, the Jazz had a clear plan of how to limit Leonard. First, they had multiple forward players – Royce O'Neale, Bojan Bogdanovic and Joe Ingles – who have the size and strength to tussle with Leonard. Second, and more importantly, the Jazz can rely on two-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert to pin down Leonard's most powerful weapon: perimeter shooting.

Unlike what many had expected, 2.16-meter-tall Gobert is fast enough to patrol beyond the paint – but not until the 3-point line. When Leonard moves towards the paint, O'Neal/ Bogdanovic/Ingles will slow him down before Gobert arrived to interfere with Leonard's shooting with his 2.36-meter-wingspan. Since such arrangements did not require double-teaming, it was also hard for Leonard to find open teammates because the Jazz had players ready to intercept his pass.

This plan worked well in the first two quarters in which Leonard only made four of his 15 shots. However, as the cost of the big guy leaving the paint, Utah watched Montrezl Harrell and Ivica Zubac devour offensive rebounds and score second-chance points. That explained why the team were only able to lead by four points (69-65) after the third quarter.

Leonard made his response to Utah's defense in the fourth quarter by burying two straight 3-pointers. This forced Utah's defense to stay closer to Leonard, giving him a better chance to dodge them and shoot before Gobert came. Having dropped 18 points in Q4 alone, Leonard had a scoring contest with Utah's Donovan Mitchell, who got 17 points this quarter. Nonetheless, the rest of Utah continued to brick while the LA were on fire. After a 40-25 Q4, the home team scored the win.

How can you not love Luka Doncic?

Luka Doncic made history again. The Dallas Mavericks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 131-111 at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, thanks to a triple-double of 29 points, 14 rebounds and 15 assists. Thanks to that, 20-year-old Doncic became the youngest NBA player who took two consecutive 25+point triple-doubles.

"I really think he (Doncic)'s the future of this league. He's unbelievable. Last year, I was extremely impressed with his game. He has taken it to a whole new level. In that fourth quarter, we were by our bench and they were shooting and I looked up at the score and saw his stats and I thought, 'Man, that's the most quiet 29, 15 and 14 I've ever seen in my life.' It just goes to show you how impressive he is. Nothing fazes him, nothing speeds him up, his shot has gotten better. He's pretty much a magician," said Kevin Love, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.

The NBA never lacks great scorers who can pass – Kawhi Leonard, Devin Booker – or great orchestrators who can score – LeBron James, Steve Nash, Isiah Thomas – and Doncic definitely belongs to the latter. Instead of using his own offensive threat as a distraction to create opportunities for his teammates, Doncic can find and grasp the opportunity any time and anywhere on the court. More importantly, when he cannot pass the ball at once, he is able to find another chance almost immediately and that's what the game should be in the head of a real, qualified orchestrator.

Nonetheless, what makes Doncic a true basketball gem is his age. Before turning 21, he already has more abundant skills than 99 percent of the league's players. A lot of his moves may seem unorthodox, but those are the best application of perfectly-polished techniques. Compared with him, James struggled from time to time in his first three seasons, not to mention that he has not grown complete techniques until the ninth year. Nash was excellent during his time in Dallas but apparently not good enough to convince Mark Cuban to keep him at the age of 30. As for Thomas, he did not even know why he played basketball until meeting Chuck Daly.

Doncic has got a remarkable start of his NBA career and he will have so much to achieve in the future.

Other games on Sunday included (home teams in bold):

Chicago Bulls 95-108 Indiana Pacers

Sacramento Kings 113-92 New York Knicks

Los Angeles Lakers 103-96 San Antonio Spurs

Houston Rockets 100-129 Miami Heat