The Mavericks defeated the Suns 128-114 in Phoenix on Christmas Day, as Luka Doncic turned in a special performance with season-highs of 50 points and 15 assists, along with six rebounds, four steals and three blocks. Not only that, but seven minutes into the first quarter, on a deep three-pointer, Luka scored his 10,000th career point, tying Hall of Famer Bob McAdoo and becoming the seventh-fastest player in NBA history at reach this goal. This means the 24-year-old only needed 358 games to join the 10,000 points club.
Of note, the other six players who achieved this in fewer games include Wilt Chamberlain (236 games), Michael Jordan (303), Elgin Baylor (315), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (319), Oscar Robertson (334) and George Are. Gervin (355). In addition to being the fastest player to reach this milestone since MJ, Luka also became the sixth youngest player to reach 10,000 points, behind only: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony and Tracy McGrady. Mavericks coach Jason Kidd explained the fairytale performance: “He’s one of the best in the world,” Kidd said. “As I have always said we cannot take it for granted. If he feels it, you try to give him the ball as much as possible.’Of course, given that Luka is the epitome of a legendary shot creator, no matter how the team plays him, there is usually simply no answer to stop the Slovenian “Wonderboy”. Going into the game, there was no doubt that Luka, who averaged 37 points in December, would be the center of attention for the Suns defense as he was often double-teamed, leading him to find open teammates and distribute 15 cents. .“We didn’t stop them in the fourth, so we took the ball out of the basket,” Suns coach Frank Vogel said. “We doubled Luka, they hurt us and when we didn’t double them, he hurt us too and I think that put us a little bit out of rhythm in attack.”There was no reason to slow down Luka on Christmas, because when he wasn’t providing assists, he was hitting the shots, shooting 15 of 25 from the field, 12 of 12 from the free throw line and 8… of -16 from three points. Notably, the Suns’ Grayson Allen also made eight 3-pointers, meaning he and Luka tied an NBA record for most 3-pointers on Christmas Day, as the only other player to do so is Patty Mills (2021) . Additionally, Luka is the fourth player in NBA history to score at least 50 points in a Christmas game, breaking the record held by Bernard King, who scored 60 in 1984. Not to mention, Wilt scored 59 points in 1961 and so does Rick Barry. he had 50 points in 1966.Luka is currently averaging a career-high 33.5 points per game, tying Joel Embiid for the most 40+ games in the NBA this season with six, as the Mavs are now 6-0 in games in which he scores 40 or more points. Recall that Luka also averaged a career-high 9.1 assists this season, meaning the sixth-year player appears to be in the spirit of giving on and off the pitch as Luka surprised the entire team with gifts of Christmas. after the Mavs’ 144-119 win against the Spurs on Saturday night. Notably, each Mavericks player and staff member received a Mercedes EQ electric bike worth $3,000 from Doncic.And after the Christmas Day win over the Suns, Luka spoke about how much he appreciates his teammates given the adversity they’ve had to overcome so far this season: “I feel good. We missed Lively for five games, we missed Kai [Irving]. I don’t know how many games, so we are far from our potential. But next man up mentality,” Doncic smiled. “I can’t wait for Kai to come back.”The Mavericks have gone 5-4 since being without star guard Kyrie Irving (heel), who missed the last nine games, and the team is currently 18-12 and in fifth place top seed in the Western Conference record standings.“It’s a great road win, they [the Suns] have a great team, so I’m really proud of this team,” Doncic said. The Mavs’ loss to the Suns on Monday night means Phoenix has lost nine of its last 12 games and is now down below .500 with a 14-15 record.That said, the Suns’ issues were largely attributed to not all of their players being on the court at the same time due to injuries. Yet on a night where Devin Booker and Kevin Durant combined for just 25 shots, the Suns role players showed their ability to step up when needed. With center Jusuf Nurkic (personally) out for the Christmas game, Chimezie Metu was able to play a season-high 34 minutes and he took full advantage of the opportunity, scoring a career-high 23 points off the bench and recording a career high. the high 19 rebounds on his career.On the negative side, given the Suns’ injuries, Phoenix’s big three of Durant, Booker and Bradley Beal have only been on the court together for 24 minutes this season, which is their most recent, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ‘ESPN. frustration for Durant.
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