Mavs Star Luka Doncic Makes Playoff History in Game 4 Win Over Suns

Only two other players in NBA history have scored as many points as Luka Doncic has through 20 playoff games.

Dalton Trigg | May 8, 2022

After being in a 2-0 hole, the Dallas Mavericks have clawed back into their Western Conference Semifinals series against the Phoenix Suns to tie it at 2-2 with a 111-101 win in Game 4.

With the American Airlines Center roaring, the Mavs were in control from start to finish behind a massive collective team effort. Dallas had six players score in double figures, including Dorian Finney-Smith, who nailed a career-high eight 3s in route to a 24-point night.

gettyimages-1240546142-594x594 — Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

gettyimages-1240549017-594x594 — Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

"I think coming back home, we just talked about one thing – and that was Game 3. Once that was in the books, we had to focus on Game 4. And now, understanding this afternoon what we had to do, we put ourselves in a position to win and we finished it," said coach Jason Kidd after the win.

"But the big thing is, these guys are playing hard, they're playing extremely hard and it's great to see. From picking up full court to diving on the floor for the loose ball to protecting one another – it's really cool to watch."

Mavs star Luka Doncic led the team with 26 points, seven rebounds, 11 assists and four steals. Doncic was instrumental in Dallas being able to close out Phoenix in Game 4, but he also made a little bit of NBA history along the way as well.

gettyimages-1240548616-594x594 — Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

Sunday afternoon marked Doncic's 20th career playoff game, and through those games, he's scored 655 points. The only other players in league history to score more points than Doncic in their first 20 playoff games are Wilt Chamberlain (705) and Michael Jordan (718).

Doncic also holds the second-highest scoring playoffs average in league history at 32.8 points per game. Jordan is the only player ahead of him in that category, as he averaged 33.4 points per game in his postseason career.

For Doncic, who is only 23 years old, it's just another trophy on his mantle of achievements that's already starting to get a little crowded. The only thing he cares about at the moment, though, is finishing off this series against the Suns and making a Western Conference Finals appearance.

Published May 8, 2022

DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.