Performance Rewind: Breaking Down Luka Doncic's 50-Point, 15-Assist Game Against the Suns on Christmas

On December 25th of 2023, Luka Doncic delivered a gift for Mavericks fans everywhere in a dominant performance to help Dallas beat Phoenix, 128-114.

Keenan Womack | Aug 18, 2024

Dec 25, 2023; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Phoenix Suns guard Grayson Allen (8) guards Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) during the first half at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports / Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

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Those who have been watching Dallas Mavericks basketball understands that a rivalry with the Phoenix Suns goes back to the mid-2000s Western Conference Playoffs days.

Steve Nash left Dallas after some truly successful seasons, helping to lead them to the 2002-2003 Western Conference Finals and appearing in a pair of All-Star Games alongside Dirk Nowitzki. He joined the Phoenix Suns prior to the 2004 season, and from there, won back-to-back MVPs in his first two seasons.

Dallas' battles with the Suns were fierce at that time, as Nash, along with players like Amare Stoudemire, Shawn Marion, and Raja Bell helped to put Phoenix in championship contention multiple times in that era, though they were never able to break through and take home a Larry O'Brien Trophy.

Still, the rivalry between Phoenix and Dallas once again renewed in the 2022 Western Conference Semifinals between Chris Paul's and Devin Booker's iteration of the Suns and Luka Doncic's Mavericks, where Dallas dealt a deathblow in a complete dismantling of Phoenix, 123-90, in Game 7.

Fast forward to 2023: Kevin Durant has joined forces with Booker, and though the chemistry hadn't worked itself out at the time, the Suns still had star power to rival anyone's. Knowing the competitor Luka Doncic is, this was the kind of game he gets up for – a prime-time, Christmas-Day battle against a heated nemesis – on the road. And, like Santa Claus, he delivered.

Armed with a starting lineup of rookie sensation Dereck Lively II, as well as Dante Exum, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Derrick Jones Jr., Doncic led the Mavericks in points with 50 and assists with 15.

The first bucket of the game set the tone a bit for how a lot of the rest of the night would go – it began with a high pick-and-roll from Lively II, upon which Phoenix blitzed, resulting in Doncic finding his young center for a wide-open jam. They fed the Suns a heavy diet of pick-and-rolls starting at the three-point line, with Lively II either setting a screen or slipping off to the basket. He scored 20 points, most of which were off of such actions.

Given that Phoenix continued to double-team Doncic out of these sets, he made them pay by making the right reads, either in the post or to an open three-point shooter. Without Kyrie Irving on the floor, even more emphasis was put on stopping Doncic, who routinely beat the trap coverage by splitting the double team and driving to the basket for easy layups.

Displaying elite pace and functional handle, Doncic picked apart these different blitzes, no matter who the personnel was. The Mavericks screened with several different players as well, including Derrick Jones Jr., and even A.J. Lawson and Dante Exum, all of whom could occasionally make the defense pay with a short-roll pass. Though the rest of the team combined had just 13 total dimes, this indicates Doncic's ability to score unassisted rather than a lack of cohesive effort on offense.

Doncic also took his fair share of threes in this game – 16 to be exact – hitting eight of them. Many of these were off-the-bounce shots, and several of these attempts were in transition. His full array of shotmaking was on display in his 50-point outing, shooting 15-for-25 from the field and making all 12 free-throw attempts.

One of the more impressive plays of the night was a skip pass to the weak-side corner from Doncic as he came off of an AJ Lawson screen, which the Suns once again trapped, though the screen nullified the attempt. He beat Chimezie Metu off the bounce before finding Jaden Hardy in the corner, who hit a three as the shot clock expired.

From an efficiency standpoint, it's hard to be much better (though his 73-point game against Atlanta in which he shot 25-for-33 comes to mind), but his passing prowess was every bit as effective as his scoring was. On the night, he had an offensive rating of 158.0, an assist rate of 58.1%, and a usage rate of 34.9%.

The lesser-discussed part of this game was his defensive effort as well – he managed four blocks and three steals on top of all of the offensive production. Rumors of Doncic's "not being in shape" have often been countered with different examples of dual-end performances, and this night was certainly an example of that.

Hopefully, the Slovenian superstar can recreate some of this magic for the 2024-25 season.

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Published Aug 18, 2024

KEENAN WOMACK

Keenan Womack is a sportswriter native to Dallas, Texas, who has spent the last 12 years in Austin, the home of his alma mater, the University of Texas. Keenan has covered sports for SB Nation, Bleacher Report, Rivals/Orangebloods, a host of his own sites and now, Fan Nation. Focusing on basketball, Keenan was on the beat for the Longhorns hoops team for the last two-and-a-half years before moving on to pursue other opportunities. He is married and lives with his wife close to the Moody Center, so they can continue to catch games together.