Luka Doncic Makes His Case for All-Defensive Team After Demolishing Kevin Durant and Co With 50-Points

Published 12/26/2023, 2:14 AM EST

Luka Doncic posted a 50-point mayhem as the Dallas Mavericks burnt the Phoenix Suns with a 128-114 victory. Phoenix Suns were ahead in the third quarter. But the Mavericks bounced back as Luka Doncic upped the ante. In the blistering knock by the star known for his monster per-game averages, Doncic scored 50 points, 15 assists, and 6 rebounds. He played for 44 minutes as he buried the home side.

Piling up records in the game seemed to be a holiday outing for the star as he did it with ease and confidence and attracted praise from his opponents as he was admired by his coach. But in his post-game interview, he expressed happiness over the record-shattering knock but zoomed in on the defensive aspect.

Luka Doncic reflects on his 50-point performance

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Doncic looked upbeat even before the game. A curious pregame ritual, where he ran around saying “I am fast”, and some interesting shoes set the tone for a masterclass in Arizona. After the match and the brutality unleashed on the Suns, he didn’t lose a bit of his lightheartedness. Without showing much emotion on his face, Doncic said, “I gotta at least be second-team All-Defense,” as he seemed to be more proud of his four steals and three blocks rather than the blistering statistics of his offense.

Luka Doncic is probably prouder of his 4 steals and 3 blocks than his 50 points and 14 assists. “I gotta at least be second-team All-Defense,” he said, keeping a straight face.
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) December 26, 2023

Before his 50-point game, Doncic was just 11 points short of 10000 career points. He became the second player after Micheal Jordon to reach the milestone in the fewest games. He reached the milestone in 358 games. Also, he joined LeBron James, Micheal Jordon, Bernard King, Wilt Chamberlain, and Rick Barry to have a 50-point performance on Christmas.

After the game, Doncic shared that creating milestones on Christmas was fun. He shared happiness in these words,“Always when this kind (of) award comes with a win, it’s even more fun. It was a tough road game and we won. So outside of the 10K and 50 points, we won the game. So I’m really happy.” But Luka Doncic was not magnetic for the records alone. He attracted the praise as well.

Admiration rains down for Doncic

Kevin Durant’s team lost but the Phonix star showed grace in the defeat. He recognized how Doncic is a force in the game he plays. He said, “I mean, he does this every game. He controls the whole game — passes, rebounds, scores. We kind of expect this from him at this point, right?”

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Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd gave a sneak peek of his understanding of the star combined with how he strategizes with Domcic on cards. Kidd said, “As I’ve always said, we can’t take him for granted when he’s feeling it. “You’re just trying to get him the ball as much as possible. You’re also trying to figure out how to get him some rest because we weren’t going to take him out there in the second half, so we needed to ask him or someone to be able to run the offense.”

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"I learned the game on the asphalt; it's the best teacher". In the crucible of childhood, where the joy of play clashed with the drudgery of rote learning, I found solace in the art of storytelling. At Essentially Sports, I seamlessly melded these early passions into a career fueled by the love for NBA titans like LeBron James.

Edited by:

Sameen Nawathe

Luka Doncic Makes His Case for All-Defensive Team After Demolishing Kevin Durant and Co With 50-Points

Luka Doncic reflects on his 50-point performance

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Admiration rains down for Doncic