Dallas Basketball

Doncic Lights Up Clippers with Career-High 51 Points in Mavs Win

The Dallas Mavericks took care of business against the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday night, as Luka Doncic put up a career-high 51 points.

Dalton Trigg

On a very busy, eventful day that saw the Dallas Mavericks trade away Kristaps Porzingis to the Washington Wizards for Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans before the NBA trade deadline, the fireworks didn't stop there.

Believe it or not, there was still an actual basketball game to be played just hours after all of the madness, and the Mavs kept their positive momentum rolling with a 112-105 win over the shorthanded Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday night. The win put Dallas at a new season-high with a 33-23 record on the year. The Mavs remain just 1.5 games behind the fourth-place Utah Jazz in the Western Conference.

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Luka Doncic was as masterful as he's ever been in this one, as he put up 28 points in the first quarter alone against the Clippers. He was just one point shy of breaking Mavs legend Dirk Nowitzki's franchise record of 29 points in one quarter.

Doncic finished the night with a career-high 51 points on 17-of-26 shooting from the field and 7-of-14 from deep. He also pitched in with nine rebounds and six assists. Doncic became just the fourth Maverick to ever score 50 points in a game, joining Nowitzki, who did it three times, Jamal Mashburn and Jim Jackson. The last 50-point game in Mavs history game all the way back in 2006 when Nowitzki dropped 50 on the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference finals.

Jalen Brunson, Dorian Finney-Smith and Reggie Bullock joined Doncic by scoring in double-figures. The trio put up a combined 34 points and 13 rebounds on the night.

Although the Clippers have been without Kawhi Leonard for the entire season and Paul George for the last 23 games, the team has still shows a lot of grit by winning enough games to stay in the top eight in the standings. The Clippers were led by Marcus Morris Sr., who finished with 21 points. Norman Powell and Reggie Jackson scored 19 and 18 points respectively.

Next up, we get to do it all over again as the Mavs take on the Clippers for the final time this season at American Airlines Center on Saturday night. Dallas will look to secure a 3-1 regular season series win.

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Dalton Trigg
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.

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