Luka Doncic scores 73 in Mavericks win, tying for fourth-best in NBA history

Doncic joined elite company: Wilt Chamberlain notched a pair of 73-point games in 1962, and David Thompson reached the mark in 1978. Only Chamberlain (100 points and 78 points) and Kobe Bryant (81 points) have scored more in a game. Doncic is the 10th player to score at least 70 points in the NBA game, and there have only been 15 such games in league history.

The five-time all-star guard, who was named a Western Conference starter Thursday, easily eclipsed his previous career-high of 60 points, which came in a Dec. 27, 2022, overtime win over the New York Knicks. Doncic’s 60 points had also stood as Dallas’s franchise record, and he now holds three of the top four scoring nights in team history.

“We’ve been struggling lately,” Doncic told Bally Sports Southwest. “My mind-set was to get a win. We struggled a little bit on defense, but we played great on offense. I was just going [with] whatever the defense gives me. The second half they were doubling me all the time, so I tried to make some plays. Then, some times I would just break the double. Just seeing the game.”

Doncic said the record-setting performance was “probably one of the top” games of his six-year career, noting that he received a warm reception from the State Farm Arena crowd in Atlanta.

“I did [hear some cheers],” he said. “I heard some MVP [chants], too.”

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Doncic wasted no time getting going, notching Dallas’s first points in the opening minute and posting 18 points in the first quarter. His total swelled to 41 points by halftime and 57 through three quarters. In the game’s final minute, Doncic hit a driving layup and a free throw to give Dallas a seven-point lead and seal the win.

The Mavericks needed a special performance, entering Friday on a three-game losing streak and without injured star Kyrie Irving. During a Wednesday loss to the Phoenix Suns, Doncic suffered a minor ankle injury and made headlines for requesting that a heckling fan be removed from the American Airlines Center in Dallas. Doncic later acknowledged that he “probably shouldn’t have done that” in an interview with TNT.

“[Doncic] was in the zone,” Mavericks Coach Jason Kidd said. “He got off to a really good start. He was letting everybody know that he’s all right, and that we’re all right. Incredible performance. He is the game plan. Some people say [a player] is the system. He’s the game plan. His ability to make shots, create shots, find the open guys — he did that at a high level tonight. ”

Doncic’s statement game came just four days after Joel Embiid became the ninth player in NBA history to score 70 points, joining Chamberlain (six times), Bryant, Thompson, Elgin Baylor, David Robinson, Devin Booker, Donovan Mitchell and Damian Lillard. Bryant was the only player to reach the threshold from 1995 to 2016, but four players — Mitchell, Lillard, Embiid and Doncic — have done it during the past two seasons.

Also this week, Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns recorded a career-high 62 points in a loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Monday and Booker scored 62 points in the Suns’ loss to the Indiana Pacers on Friday.