Luka Doncic records his fourth career 50-point game

Luka Doncic (Google Images)

Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic of Ljubljana, Slovenia simply had a spectacular 2022 calendar year. For the fourth time in his career (all times coming in 2022), Doncic scored 50 points in a game on Saturday as he scored 51 points in a 126-125 Dallas win over the San Antonio Spurs.

In Dallas’s one-point win over San Antonio, Doncic made 18 of 29 field goal attempts, six of 10 three-point attempts, and nine of 15 free throws. He added nine assists, six rebounds, four steals, and one block, and was a +7 in 37 minutes and 14 seconds of time on the court.

Doncic’s final two points were on free throws. At the time, the Mavericks took a 126-123 lead. Spurs point guard Tre Jones of Apple Valley, Minnesota made two free throws in the final three seconds of the contest, but it was too little, too late. In fact, Jones had a glorious chance to give the Spurs an upset win, but he missed two key free throws in the last three seconds as well.

The first time Doncic reached the half century mark in total points came on February 10, 2022. That is when he scored 51 points in a 112-105 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. Doncic then had 50 points in a 112-106 Mavericks win over the Houston Rockets on December 23, and then a career-high 60 points in a 126-121 Mavericks win over the New York Knicks on December 27.  The 60 points Doncic scored six days ago against the Knicks were the most points in a single game in the National Basketball Association this season.

Doncic is now averaging 34.2 points per game, which leads the NBA. In my opinion, he has been the league’s most valuable player in 2022-23.

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