On another planet for a few games, Luka Doncic continued his madness last night on the Spurs floor: 51 points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists, 4 steals, 1 block, 0 loss of ball, and the victory at the end 126-125 . How do you say “end the year on a high note” in Slovenian?
“We will limit Luka under 50 points. I tell you.”
Before the match between San Antonio and Dallas, the legendary Spurs coach Gregg Popovich let go of one of his nice little valves, just to show the respect he has for Luka Doncic and his incredible performances of the moment. Except the Dallas phenom saw this and thought, oh, really? Okay.
Result: a third match with 50 pawns for Luka on his last five outings, after the 50 planted against Houston December 23 and of course his historic match against the Knicks a few days ago. Doncic has 228 points, 56 rebounds and 51 assists over those five games, which gives insane averages of… 45.6 pawns, 11.2 catches and 10.2 caviars. A monster.
Doncic’s last 5 games (via ESPN)
And most importantly, Dallas is now on a six-game winning streak, with the Mavs securing the 126-125 win tonight despite a big run from Spurs in the final quarter. Six victories that allow Luka Doncic’s band to shake up the Western hierarchy with a fine fourth place and an overall record of 21-16.
Did you say MVP?
No one in the NBA currently combines such individual performances with such a winning streak, and Doncic is clearly getting back into the running for the Michael Jordan Trophy. Luka carries Dallas like never before, plays at an all-time level, while taking care of his team’s balance sheet which was a stain on his record before. Tatum, Giannis, Jokic and Co. just have to watch out!