Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Dončić set a career high in points Tuesday night, scoring 60 in a triple-double against the New York Knicks. Here’s what you need to know:
- Dončić becomes the first NBA player this season to score at least 60 points.
- He joins James Harden as the only two players to record a 60-point triple-double, adding 21 rebounds and 10 assists. It’s the first-ever 60/20/10 game in NBA history.
- Dončić’s 60 also set a franchise record in single-game points.
- The Mavericks erased a nine-point deficit with 35 seconds to go. Dončić hit a shot on a missed free throw (on purpose) to send the game to overtime, where the Mavs won 126-121.
Backstory
Coming into Tuesday’s game, Dončić’s career-high in points was 51, which he scored against the Los Angeles Clippers on Feb. 10. For the season, Dončić is averaging 32.8 points, 8.3 rebounds and 8.7 assists per game on 49.9 percent shooting from the floor.
Advertisement
Shaquille O’Neal (2000) was the last player to record at least 60 points and 20 rebounds in a game prior to Dončić on Tuesday night.
Dončić’s 142 points over his last three games are the most over any three-game span in Mavericks history. On his 22nd point of the night, Dončić became the seventh player in Mavericks history to score 8,000 career points with the franchise.
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson did not play in his return to Dallas due to right hip soreness.
With the win, the Mavericks improve to 19-16 on the season.
A historic performance for Luka
Dončić was in the midst of having a great game, just like he normally does. On Tuesday, for whatever reason, a great game wasn’t going to be enough for the Mavericks to beat the Knicks.
So with about eight minutes left in the fourth quarter, Dončić hit a shot in the lane that sent him to 41 points for the evening. When the Knicks went up by nine points with 33 seconds remaining, it was Dončić’s and-one putback — up to 50 points — that brought Dallas back within a one-shot game.
Then of course it was Dončić perfectly executing a missed free throw, recovering his own miss, and flipping his shot back in to tie the game and force overtime, finally dragging the Mavericks to the eventual win.
“The history of the game is written by the players,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “And it was written again tonight.” — Cato
‘(I’m) just enjoying the sport’
Dončić has a pretend innocence he’ll use in these moments, his unwillingness to brag turning into something that almost seems bashful.
“I don’t know,” Dončić said when he was asked to explain his 60-21-10 stat line, numbers that had never been replicated in NBA history.
“We got kind of lucky,” he continued.
Dončić, of course, knows that games like this — that people being as otherworldly good at this sport as he is — aren’t things that normally happen. But he’s trying not to think too much about that.
Advertisement
“(I’m) just enjoying the sport,” Dončić concluded. — Cato
Highlight of the game
LUKA MAGIC TO SEND THE GAME TO OT 🤯
Dončić has a career-high 53 points through four quarters.
🎥 @BallySportsSWpic.twitter.com/iddckgkrJg
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) December 28, 2022
What they’re saying
Luka after the first 60-point 20-rebound triple-double in NBA history… 😂 pic.twitter.com/iNG9FYXDgA
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) December 28, 2022
Required reading
(Photo: Kevin Jairaj / USA Today)
ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57k2lqcmxjaHxzfJFrZmpqX2eEcLnAr5yroZOgwG641KSYZpyfo7Cqr4ykpaKbm6h8