Dazzling Doncic scores 73 as Mavs down Hawks / Photo: Todd Kirkland - GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
Dazzling Doncic scores 73 as Mavs down Hawks
Luka Doncic matched the fourth-highest scoring performance in NBA history Friday, pouring in 73 points to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 148-143 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.
A masterful individual performance saw the Slovenian star set a Mavs record with 41 first-half points, with the scorching run continuing in the second half as Dallas kept the determined Hawks at bay.
Doncic added 10 rebounds and seven assists. He connected on 25 of 33 shots from the floor -- including eight three-pointers -- and made 15 of his 16 free throws.
"I was just going, you know, whatever the defense give me," Doncic said. "In the second half they doubled me all the time so I tried to make some plays."
His sensational performance spoiled the return of Trae Young, who led the Hawks with 30 points after missing two games in concussion protocol.
Doncic's franchise-record effort pushed him into elite NBA territory. Only Wilt Chamberlain and Kobe Bryant have scored more points in a game, Chamberlain with the league record 100 in 1962 and Bryant with 81 in 2006.
Chamberlain also owns a 78-point performance and two of 73 -- a number also reached by David Thompson and, now, Doncic.
"It's beautiful," Doncic said. "I'm glad we got a win."
The Hawks had pulled within three points with less than two minutes to play, but Doncic drove for a layup, drew a foul and converted the free throw to help push the lead back to seven with 58 seconds left.
A Young basket cut the deficit to three with 10 seconds to play, but Tim Hardaway Jr. made a pair of free throws to seal it for the Mavs, who were without injured Kyrie Irving.
Doncic's 25 baskets were a career high and he crushed his own franchise record of 60 points, set against the New York Knicks on December 27, 2022.
Doncic's effort came less than a week after Joel Embiid poured in 70 in a Philadelphia 76ers win over San Antonio -- and it wasn't the only eye-popping outburst of the night.
Phoenix guard Devin Booker's 62-point performance, however, came in a losing effort as the Indiana Pacers triumphed 133-131 to halt the Suns' seven-game winning streak.
Booker broke his own Suns record for points in a quarter with 29 in the first.
They led by as many as 17 but the Pacers had tied it up with less than a minute to play and Obi Toppin's putback basket off a Pascal Siakam miss sealed the victory as Booker couldn't get his three-pointer to fall as time expired.
It was Booker's second game this season of 50 or more points after a 52-point showing against New Orleans earlier this month. He had a career-high 70 against Boston in 2017.
Siakam scored 31 points, leading six Pacers players in double figures as Indiana notched a second straight win.
F.McKenzie--EWJ
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