PHOENIX – Luka Dončić just keeps on doing things bigger, better and faster than anybody else.
And he knows how to do it with flash.
It wasn’t enough for him to reach 10,000 points for his six-year NBA career. He had to do it Luka-style. With 4:52 left in the first quarter of the Christmas night game at Phoenix, Dončić pulled up from just inside the Suns’ fiery logo at center court and nailed the history-maker.
That it came in a highly entertaining 128-114 victory over the Suns at Footprint Center made the night complete for Luka and the Mavericks. Luka would finish with 50 points, the fourth time somebody has hung half-a-hundred on Christmas Day in NBA history.
It happened with the Phoenix crowd booking lustily early in the game whenever Luka touched the ball.
“Always, when these kind of awards come with a win, it’s even more fun,” Dončić said. “It was a tough road win and we won. Outside of the 10K and 50 points, we won the game, so I’m happy.
“It’s great. I love playing in these environments. It’s fun for me. When you make a shot, the whole gym is quiet. So that’s the best feeling in the world.”
And there were lots of those kind of feelings on Christmas.
It was his shot way back in the first quarter that made history.He swished the shot officially recorded at 34 feet and which pushed him to 10,001 points for his career.
Per Elias Sports Bureau, Luka is the sixth-fastest to 10K points in terms of age at 24 years, 300 days. He’s tied for seventh-fastest in terms of games played at 358.
Yes, faster than LeBron James. Or anybody else who is playing currently. Only the long-gone stars of the past – Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, Elgin Baylor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson, George Gervin, Bob McAdoo, Rick Barry and James round out the top 10 of fastest players to 10,000 points.
The barrier-breaker was just another in a string of shots that Luka hit as the Mavericks built a 12-point first-quarter lead thanks to his 17 points.
Dončić becomes the sixth Maverick to surpass 10K career points (Dirk Nowitzki, Rolando Blackman, Mark Aguirre, Derek Harper, Michael Finley). He joins Mike Miller (2012) and Kevin Love (2016) as the only players in league history to reach the milestone on Christmas Day.
He joined Bernard King (60), Wilt Chamberlain (59) and Rick Barry (50) as the only players to reach 50 points in a Christmas Day NBA game.
“Congratulations to Luka for getting to 10,000 so fast,” coach Jason Kidd said. “And to be with the likes of Bernard King, Wilt and Rick Barry, that’s pretty cool.”
Luka was fantastic early, and just as dazzling late.
The Mavericks led by as much as 15 points early, but were down 102-98 early in the fourth quarter.
They then erupted on a 17-6 surge that put them up 115-106 with 4:44 to play.
Luka had his fingerprints all over the run, especially with facilitating plays that led to easy buckets for Derrick Jones Jr. (23 points), Tim Hardaway Jr. (16) and Dereck Lively II (20 and 10 rebounds).
“Me personally, I’ve never been on a team when somebody’s scoring the ball like this at such a high rate,” Jones said. “And also getting his teammates involved and making sure everybody feels comfortable on the floor. It’s incredible.”
The 13th of his 14 assists was to Lively with 3:30 to play for a reverse dunk and a 119-110 Mavericks’ lead. The Suns were incapable of making the Mavericks sweat down the stretch.
Earlier, the Suns struggling to find any sort of rhythm, the Mavericks probably should have padded their lead more than they did. They were up by 14 late in the first half, but the Suns trimmed it to 62-54 before a wicked follow dunk by Derrick Jones Jr. stopped the Phoenix run and left them up by 10 at the break.
That didn’t last long after halftime. Eric Gordon and Grayson Allen got hot and Gordon’s back-to-back buckets carved the lead to 75-71.
Luka, who had scored or assisted on 41 of the Mavericks’ 64 first-half points, got a fadeaway to fall to stop the bleeding. But the rest of the third quarter was a grind.
“We knew they were going to make a run,” Luka said. “We just had to stay together. That’s what I told the guys.”
In the end, it was Luka’s night simply to mesmerize everybody in the arena, and on the national telecast.
Asked how somebody racks up 50 points and 14 assists when he’s double-teamed virtually every time he has the ball, Lively said:
“I wish I knew. Magic.”
As Jones added: “Luka with anybody guarding him, I’m living with it.”
That Doncic has years of experience doing it doesn’t hurt, either.
“When you’ve been doubled pretty much your whole career, you have a sense, a feel, you can see it,” Kidd said. “You know where space is.”
X: @ESefko
