By the numbers: Doncic erupts for 73 in historic outing
Luka Doncic just did that.
The Dallas Mavericks phenom broke this season's single-game scoring record with a 73-point effort in a 148-143 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night.
Doncic's total is tied for the fourth-highest single-game scoring output in league history. His memorable outing came just days after Joel Embiid dropped 70 points on the San Antonio Spurs.
"He is the game plan," Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd said after Doncic's performance. "His ability to make shots, create shots, find open guys, he did that at a high level tonight."
Devin Booker put up 62 points against the Indiana Pacers on Friday, and the pair of 60-point efforts marks the fifth time in NBA history that two players scored that many on the same day. It was the second occurrence this week after Embiid and Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns did it this past Monday.
Here are some statistics that contextualize Doncic's historic performance.
1 - Doncic became the first and only player in NBA history to register a 70-point, 10-rebound, and 7-assist stat line.
4 - A player has scored 73 points - the fourth-highest mark the league has ever seen - on four occasions in NBA history. Icon Wilt Chamberlain did it twice in the same year (1962), while David Thompson scored 73 in 1978.
10 - Doncic became the 10th player to score at least 70 points in a game, reaching heights only Chamberlain, Thompson, Kobe Bryant, Elgin Baylor, David Robinson, Donovan Mitchell, Damian Lillard, Booker, and Embiid have met.
21 - The total Josh Green - the next highest-scoring Maverick - recorded in Friday's contest. Doncic, Green and Tim Hardaway Jr. were the only Mavs to put up point totals in the double digits, with six players dropping less than 10.
60 - The previous Dallas Mavericks franchise record, also accomplished by Doncic. He recorded 60 points, 21 rebounds, and 10 assists in a comeback win against the New York Knicks in December 2022.
62 - Booker's 62-point eruption on Friday night helped Doncic make history. There have only been five instances of two players scoring at least 60 points in NBA history on the same night, with two of them happening this week.
70 - Embiid was part of the other duo that topped the 60-point threshold in the last few days. His 70-point outburst on Monday represented this season's previous high. Towns joined him with 62.
81 - The Mavericks star's effort marks the second-most points scored in a game this millennium, eight shy of tying Kobe Bryant's legendary 81-point spectacle against the Toronto Raptors in 2006.
90 - Doncic's explosion was an efficient one. His individual effort produced the most points scored with a true-shooting percentage greater than 90%, according to StatMuse. The next three players to reach that threshold scored in the 50s.
390 - Four players have scored at least 70 points since January 2023: Mitchell and Lillard did it within a month, while Doncic and Embiid scored career highs in the same week. Between the first and the last instance, 390 days have passed.