Yet another record night For Luka Doncic, one of the most resounding ever. As many as five records (and what records!) rewritten by the Mavericks star in tonight’s game against the New York Knicks, which ended with the Texans’ 126-121 victory after an overtime. It was a dream night for Luka Magic, who recorded his own career high in both points and rebounds, finishing the game with 23/37 from the field and 16/22 from the lunette.
In the 47:09 minutes he spent on the hardwood, the Mavs’ No. 77 put up an incredible 60 points, topped by 21 assists and 10 rebounds. Doncic has thus become the first player ever to produce a 60/20/10 performance in NBA history. The only other precedent of a 60-point triple double belongs to James Harden (vs Orlando Magic, 2018), who, however, put up “only” 10 rebounds.
Doncic, at 23 years and 302 days, is also the youngest player ever to score a triple double of at least 50 points. Before him, the record belonged to a certain Wilt Chamberlain, who had sealed such a performance at the age of 26 years and 176 days. Little tidbit: in addition to Chamberlain and Doncic, only Lakers all-star Elgin Baylor (listed in 1996 as one of the best 50 players ever) was able to finish a game with such a scorecard. In short, a more than exclusive club.
But the Dallas star, as he has accustomed us by now, has broken many other records. In fact, his 60 points represent the most a Mavericks player has ever scored: surpassing the 53 points scored by Dirk Nowitzki on December 2, 2004 in the Texas derby against the Houston Rockets.
The points record is not the only one Doncic has taken away from Wünderdirk (to whom the city of Dallas, by the way, just dedicated a statue): Luka is now also the Mavs player with the most 50+ point performances, 3 to the Würzburg native’s 2. It should be pointed out, demonstrating the extraordinary form of Dallas’ number 77, that the second 50+ point performance of his career was not even a week ago: 50 points came in the 112-106 victory over the Houston Rockets, topped also on that occasion by 10 assists and “only” 8 rebounds.
Let’s add to this another record, this time as a team. In the last 20 seasons, teams down by at least 9 points with 35 seconds left (a situation in which the Mavericks found themselves) had never won. Luka Magic and the Mavs are the first to break this wall. On as many as 13,884 occasions in which such a thing had occurred.
A record-breaking personality on and off the field, at the end of the match, addressing the to the sidelines of beIN Sports., Luka stated: “What a game! I’m tired, now I need a beer to relax.”.
A young man born in 2000 with a great love for basketball (a sport he played for 13 years) and a great interest in the world of journalism. Graduated in 2021 in “Humanities for Communication” at Statale University in Milan, he is attending the second year of the Master’s Degree in “Information and Journalism” at the University of Bergamo. He has been collaborating with BasketUniverso since February 2019.
