Mavs' Luka Doncic Haunts Hawks with 73-Point Game: 'I Could Have Been Here'
Whether they like it or not, Dallas Mavericks' Luka Doncic and Atlanta Hawks' Trae Young will forever be linked together by the 2018 NBA Draft trade that landed them with their respective teams.
As talented of a scorer and a passer as Young is, Hawks fans are often left wondering what could have been had their team selected Doncic instead. The latest example of this came on Friday night, as Doncic dropped a career-high and franchise record-breaking 73 points to give the Mavs a 148-143 win in Atlanta.
The away crowd was captivated by the magic show Doncic was putting on, as 'oohs' and 'ahhs' could be heard with every move the five-time All-Star pulled out of his hat. Doncic's 73 points ties for the fourth-most points ever scored in an NBA game.
“Oh it was great, man," Doncic said of having a historic performance against the team that traded him. "I could have been here, but I think it benefits both sides. I actually saw one fan wearing an Atlanta jersey with 77, so I was glad.
USA TODAY Sports (left) / Grant Afseth (right)
"I think it's a big deal, but there's always going to be trades in conversation when you come back to one place that could've had you. You always have maybe some more special (feelings) to it, maybe it was more special."
Young ended up with 30 points, 11 assists and three steals while shooting 9-18 from the field, and still, it paled in comparison. The Hawks did everything they could think of to try to stop Doncic, but he was inevitable.
"You can't get caught up in it. He was hot, he was going and s***, we were trying everything. We were trying to trap him ... We tried a lot of things," Young said.
"Sometimes, you have to pick your poison, and after he had scored, what, 60? We started doing more double-teaming, and then they were hitting 3s. It's tough. He's a hell of a player for a reason."
Both the Mavs and the Hawks have reached the conference finals once since 2018, but right now, the teams are trending in opposite directions, as Dallas is 25-20 despite battling several key injuries, while Atlanta is 18-27 and perhaps on the brink of blowing things up. The Mavs aren't the perfect team, but they have Doncic, who is capable of erasing mistakes more times than not, and that's more than what the Hawks can say nearly six years after that fateful draft-night trade.
