Friday night was a memorable one for Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic, who lit up State Farm Arena with a career-high 73 points in a 148-143 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.
Doncic is the tenth player to ever reach the level, and it’s only the 15th 70-point game in NBA history.
73 ‼️
THE AND-1 BRINGS LUKA DONCIC UP TO 73 POINTS🤯
He's the 10th player ever to score 70+ points 👏
Mavs-Hawks | #NBARivalsWeek
Live on NBA TV | https://t.co/VOhuWg9Bwr pic.twitter.com/TD44BOAbez— NBA (@NBA) January 27, 2024
The game surpassed Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers’ 70-point performance against the San Antonio Spurs on Monday to become the highest-scoring NBA game of the season. It also equaled Wilt Chamberlain and David Thompson for the fourth-highest scoring game in NBA history. In 2006, Kobe Bryant finished with 81 points, while Chamberlain—who holds the NBA record with 100 points—also had a 78-point performance.
Luka Doncic’s top performances so far
Luka Doncic has seven games with 50 points or more. With 73 points, he had his greatest scoring performance against the Atlanta Hawks. Doncic just needed 33 tries. During the contest, he missed eight shots. He scored fifteen free throws and eight threes. Throughout the game, Doncic also had seven assists and ten rebounds.
In the 2023–24 NBA season, Doncic became the second player, after Joel Embiid, to score 70 points or more in a game. He is the fourth player to record a 70-piece since the 2022–2023 campaign. In 2022–2023 Damian Lillard and Donovan Mitchell reached the landmark.
On December 27, 2022, Doncic had his second-highest scoring performance against the New York Knicks. In NBA history, he recorded the only game with 60 points, 20 rebounds, and 11 assists. Doncic arrived after just 31 tries, with 10 missed shots. Out of six 3-pointers, he only made two.
On January 30, 2023, Doncic had his third-best scoring performance against the Detroit Pistons. 53 points on 70.8% shooting were his downfall. His prior career high, which he achieved on February 10 against the Los Angeles Clippers and on December 31 against the San Antonio Spurs, was 51 points. Additionally, on December 23, 2022, against the Houston Rockets, and on December 25, 2023, against the Phoenix Suns, Doncic scored 50 points in each game.
