Dallas Mavs Star Luka Doncic Joins LeBron James, Michael Jordan on Elite NBA Scoring List
The undermanned Dallas Mavericks weren't able to pull off a miracle road win against the defending-champion Denver Nuggets on Monday night, as Nikola Jokic's squad came away with a 130-104 win.
Despite the loss, though, Mavs star Luka Doncic did what he seemingly does on a nightly basis these days by making a little bit of NBA history. The four-time All-NBA First Teamer finished with a game-high 38 points on 13-24 shooting overall and 6-12 from deep. He also tallied 11 rebounds and eight assists, but was also a -29 in 36 minutes due to the dominance of Denver's starting five.
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Through 355 career games, Doncic now holds a scoring average of 27.9 points per game, which is the second-best mark in NBA history at that point in any player's career since the ABA/NBA merger. Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan is first on that list, and right behind Doncic in third place is Los Angeles Lakers star and the NBA's all-time leading scorer LeBron James.
Doncic has put up MVP-caliber numbers this season, and the Mavs have a 16-10 record while being fifth in the tightly-contested Western Conference standings. However, unless the Mavs can get healthy and give their superstar some more help in these games against true championship contenders, his MVP hopes will take a hit.
Things don't get any easier for the injury-plagued Mavs, as they'll fly home to Dallas to take on the red-hot Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday. The Clippers have eight games in a row and 10 out of their last 12 games that started with a 107-88 win over the Mavs on Nov. 25.
Doncic's co-star Kyrie Irving was seen on the Dallas bench without a walking boot on Monday night in Denver, so perhaps reinforcements are on the way. Stay tuned to DallasBasketball.com for more updates leading into Wednesday's game.
