There must be some sort of internal scoring competition between the league’s stars this week. Just this past Monday, Joel Embiid and Karl-Anthony Towns dropped 70 and 62 points respectively. Fast forward to Friday, it was Luka Doncic and Devin Booker’s turn. Booker matched Towns’ 62-point output. Doncic, however, set a record -breaking amount of points in the Dallas Mavericks’ win over the Atlanta Hawks: 73 points.
Making eight three-pointers, converting 15 out of his 16 free throw attempts and going 25-of-33 (75.8%) from the field, Doncic put on a show at the State Farm Arena. Of course, some big names were also tuned in to the Mavs game, one of whom was Dirk Nowitzki. The former NBA Champion was more than thrilled to witness the Slovenian’s historic night, and it was expressed with a one-word tweet.
Doncic continues to put up big numbers for the Mavs
Considering how Luka has become Nowitzki’s successor as the leader of the Mavs, it comes as no surprise that the former has the support of a legend such as Dirk. At the moment, Doncic continues to put up MVP-candidate-level numbers. The 24-year-old is averaging a near-triple double of 34.6 points, 9.2 assists and 8.6 rebounds per game this season.
Additionally, Friday has marked Doncic’s second career game with 60+ points and his seventh career game with 50+ points. His 73-point outing makes him the first player in NBA history to score 70+ while shooting 75% or higher from the field, per the NBA’s official X (Twitter) account.
At the moment, the Mavs sit at eighth place in the Western Conference. While they continue to struggle with finding momentum (5-5 in their last 10 games), nights like Friday’s can be a confidence booster to the team moving forward.
Luka Doncic and Co. will be going up against the Sacramento Kings on Saturday, and they surely look to capitalize on the previous day’s win back on their home court.
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