Luka Doncic Drops 50 Points & 15 Assists, Leads Mavs' Christmas Day Win vs. Suns
PHOENIX — In the final matchup of the NBA's five-game Christmas Day slate, the Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns faced off against each other. Led by a dynamic performance recording 50 points and 15 assists from Luka Doncic, the Mavs won 128-114, improving to 18-12 on the season, while the Suns dropped to 14-15.
It was another night full of new accolades for Doncic, who entered the game needing to score 11 points to reach 10,000 for his regular-season career. By scoring 50 points, he joined Bernard King, Wilt Chamberlain, and Rick Berry as the only players to do it on Christmas Day. He also joined James Harden as the only player with at least 50 points and 15 assists in a regular season performance. No player had accomplished Doncic's overall stat line, including his six rebounds, four blocks, and three steals.
“I think one, congratulations on getting the 10,000 points, that’s pretty cool and pretty fast," Kidd said of Doncic. "But also, on Christmas, to be in the likes of Bernard King, Wilt (Chamberlain), Rick Barry, to score 50 on Christmas, so it’s pretty cool. And then with a stat line – I think we talked about it offline about his defense and the things that he’s doing – to come up with blocks and steals tonight was big.”
Doncic, who was a frequent focus of boos from the Footprint Center crowd throughout the night, thrived on the growing rivalry he shares with the Suns.
"I love playing in this environment," Doncic said. "Especially away. It's fun for me. When you make a shot, the whole gym is quiet. It's the best feeling in the world."
The defensive approach from the Suns consistently involved blitzing Doncic in ball screen coverage early and often. The goal was to get the ball out of his hands and make his teammates execute, which, when patience is used, creates a 4-on-3 situation that Lively has continued to pick apart. Doncic and his teammates countered this effectively throughout the night.
"I didn't expect this impact of him," Doncic said of Lively. "He's been playing like he's in the league for 10 years already. I'm really proud of this guy. He works on his game and listens to me, so it's a great complement."
The Mavs frequently moved Doncic around off-ball throughout the game, enabling him to leverage his size advantage and attack before using a dribble. Early on, the look involved Wide action but often became deploying him from the elbow out of Horns or simply giving him the ball at the top of the key.
The Suns' top-scoring threats — Kevin Durant and Devin Booker — were often guarded by Dante Exum and Derrick Jones Jr. to start the game, ending up in situations where they were taking contested short-range pull-ups. Still, they were converting consistently initially, but it tapered off quickly with inefficient overall results for the first half.
“Just try to keep [Booker] off his spots; the same thing for him and Kevin," Jones said. "Just try to keep them off their spots, make sure we throw bodies at them. Make sure they got a crowd in front of them, and they don’t get an easy, straight-line drive to the rim. It was basically making it a crowded game.”
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Lively subbed out after four minutes in his return to the lineup. The Mavs intended to monitor his minutes and not have him play long stretches. The first substitution involved bringing Grant Williams to play small ball center, with the Suns having smaller personnel on the floor. The group was diligent about running shooters off the line and making extra efforts to help defense.
Doncic was in a significant rhythm from the perimeter early in the game, converting multiple catch-and-shoot 3s in the first quarter, then getting to a step-back 3-pointer after coming off a big-big screen in a Horns set. Lively checked into the game late in the period, providing Doncic with a relief option to counter blitzing. With the Suns fearing the threat he poses as a scorer, he leveraged his passing.
Doncic made sure reporters knew he reached the 10,000-point mark using a catch-and-shoot jumper — the type of shot he stated was an offseason focus of his to improve as he worked to maximize his fit with Kyrie Irving.
“It was a catch-and-shoot, so I was really happy," Doncic said. "Like I told you before the season, I was working on my catch-and-shoot.”
With the Mavs' combination of precise offensive execution led by Doncic and the team's defensive versatility providing stops, the Mavs led by double figures (36-24) at the end of the first quarter. The Slovenian superstar already totaled 17 points.
The Suns maintained an aggressive defensive approach by blitzing Doncic often, allowing him to dish the ball to Lively often on the short roll. Dallas continued to deploy Doncic off-ball to leverage his size advantage — often at the top of the key or on the elbow out of Horns — to force the defense to double from different spots or show early help. If the defense stayed in single coverage, he attacked aggressively.
Phoenix created momentum late in the second quarter by pushing the pace on missed shots but didn't quite generate momentum until the third quarter. Eric Gordon and Grayson Allen heated up, combining for 14 of the team's initial 17 points after the break, cutting the Mavs' lead to 73-66.
With plenty of slippage on both ends in the third quarter, the Mavs were outscored 38-27. Grayson Allen heated up, scoring 19 of his 27 points in the period, with Chimezie Metu providing plenty of dirty work contributions, too. Phoenix became more aggressive in daring weaker shooters to take 3-point attempts by shrinking the floor with an early low man.
With the need to open the floor up in the half-court, the Mavs deployed a wide range of different lineups, featuring a combination of shooters like Williams, Seth Curry, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Jaden Hardy at different points. Dallas trailed by a one-point margin (92-91) after 36 minutes of action, with Doncic already totaling 38 points and 10 assists.
Despite continuing to be double-teamed, Doncic took matters into his own hands more down the stretch of the third quarter and early in the final period, converting on numerous step-back 3-pointers early in the shot clock. After a barrage of off-the-dribble 3-pointers from the Slovenian superstar and tightened-up defensive execution, the Mavs regained a narrow four-point lead with over eight minutes left to play. It was a needed boost at a time when role players went cold.
“I think when you’ve been doubled pretty much your whole career, you have a sense of feel," Kidd said of Doncic. You can see it. You know where space is. I think it's also just the trust with his teammates to let go of the ball.
"We went a little cold there in the third, but we got some great looks; I thought Luka was saying on the bench during the game about just staying with it, and we’re in the game," Kidd explained. "I thought his threes to end the quarter in the third were big for us. When he makes three of them to keep us within one, you could tell he’s in a good place, and it was a matter of our role players being able to knock down some open shots, and that’s what took place there in the fourth.”
The Suns tried to play out of Stack pick-and-roll often as the fourth quarter progressed, deploying Allen as the back-screener to put the Mavs' defense into situations where they had to respect a shooter already having a hot performance. Dallas handled it well, often coming up with stops.
Phoenix continued to blitz Doncic as the fourth quarter played out. Still, the Mavs adjusted by having Jones screen while Lively was stationed in the dunker's spot, ideally to provide an offensive rebounding presence or relief option on a pass. Lively flushed home an emphatic putback at one point, but a made 3-pointer from Hardaway put them up seven points (113-106) with 5:16 remaining in regulation.
“I guess it helps when he trusts his teammates as much as he does," Jones said of Doncic. "When we play and get downhill and make plays for others and do what we’re supposed to do, it makes our job a lot easier. They can’t help as much and can’t leave everybody to go double like they want. Then, it gives him those one-on-one situations, and we all know how he thrives with those one-on-one situations. Luka, with anybody guarding him, I’m living with it.”
The Suns tried to open things up by going with a two-man game with Durant and Booker. Still, Doncic's precision in picking apart their defense on the other end was too much to overcome, including a no-look dime to Lively in the charge circle after dragging a double-team wide. Jones became a pivotal element of the offense, closing it out by attacking off the catch, converting on a layup, and getting to the free throw line for a pair of attempts to put the game out of reach.
After being outscored by double figures in the third quarter, the Mavs ultimately achieved a needed, explosive final period to close it out, outscoring the Suns by a 37-22 margin. Doncic trusted his teammates to make plays after giving up the ball against double teams, which paid dividends. At the same time, their defensive execution only tightened up as clutch time progressed, capped off with a steal leading to a breakaway transition finish for Hardaway.
“Just poor rotations, poor gameplan discipline," Booker said. "When we do what we are supposed to do out there, it works. Then, as the game goes on, we lose focus.”
Ultimately, the Mavs' game plan to try to contain Booker and Durant at the expense of accounting for some of the Suns' role players was tested. Allen's 32 points were a season-high, while Metu's 23 points and 19 rebounds were the most he's ever recorded in either category in his NBA career. However, containing Booker to 20 points and Durant to 16 points was a difference-maker in the end.
Beyond Doncic's performance, the Mavs received strong outings from various players. Jones came one point shy of his season high in points with 23, with no shortage of timely made field goals. Lively racked up 20 points and 10 rebounds in his return to the lineup, marking the second game of his career meeting those marks. Hardaway added 18 points and seven rebounds. Exum contributed seven points, four rebounds, and five assists, with the team improving to 7-3 when he is a starter.
On Wednesday, the Mavs return to action when they take on the Cleveland Cavaliers for a one-game stop at American Airlines before a three-game Western Conference road trip.
