“We’re going to hold Luka under 50. Quote it.”
Gregg Popovich jokingly revealed his plan to stop Luka Doncic heading into Saturday night's contest against the Dallas Mavericks, falling just short as Doncic continued his ridiculous scoring streak, going off for 51 points in the Mavs' 126-125 win in San Antonio.
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Doncic, who finished with 51 points, nine assists, six rebounds, and four steals, has now scored over 50 points in three of his past five games, with his latest effort extending his lead at the top of the Mavericks' all-time list for 50-point games, with the fourth of his career and third of the season.
Asked if he saw Popovich's pre-game claim, Doncic responded: “Yeah, I saw...I just wanted to get a win.”
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And win they did.
Just as he did a couple days back against the New York Knicks, Doncic used the free throw line to put his team over the top.
After burying two clutch free throws with 4.5 seconds to go, giving the Mavs a three-point lead, he iced the game at the line, this time by missing both.
With 1.5 seconds remaining and the Mavs leading by a point, Doncic missed the first free throw, before deliberately missing the second and recovering the rebound, before dribbling the clock out.
@luka7doncic 2nd missed free throw intentionally to win the game 🤑 pic.twitter.com/YceBSC3NEc
— Mason Granger (@mason1992) January 1, 2023
After tonight's performance, Doncic became just the eighth player in NBA history to drop three or more 50-point games in a season before the age of 25, joining LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Rick Barry, Nate Archibald, and Wilt Chamberlain per @NBAHistory.
He is also the first player in NBA history to total 225+ points, 50+ rebounds, and 50+ assists over a five-game span, with the Mavs now unbeaten in their last six games.
"It's incredible," Mavericks teammate Christan Wood said of Doncic's recent run.
"Since my seven years in the league, I've never seen anyone do what he's able to do.
"He just has to keep it up, he's on an incredible run, he's playing like an MVP, clearly one of the best players in the league. [I'm] happy for him."
Luka is averaging a 45/11/10 triple-double over his last 5 games.
— NBA (@NBA) January 1, 2023
🤯 pic.twitter.com/UwxxVaALsD
Doncic's run has kept the Mavs on track as they battle a handful of injuries to key players including Dorian Finney-Smith, Josh Green, JaVale McGee and Maxi Kleber and while his exploits on court have made for must-see TV, head coach Jason Kidd is conscious of the workload placed on the 23-year-old star.
“We’re a little bit on the injured side right now, but we got to get a little bit more from our bench. But our bench is being covered by Luka," he said postgame.
"We can’t expect him to have 50 every night.
“...It keeps the streak going and we keep the excitement at a high for sure late in the game,” Kidd said. “A couple mistakes we can clean up. But it’s not easy to win here. Luka was incredible. He bails us out again.”
The Mavs have now won six games on the bounce and climbed to fourth in the Western Conference standings at 21-16, with Doncic closing out 2022 in style.
