NBA
Luka Doncic Is An Absolute Beast and Just Joined Magic Johnson in the NBA Record Books With His Game 4 Performance Against the Clippers
Luke Norris began his sportswriting career in 2013 and joined Sportscasting in 2020. The former Section Editor of the NFL and Motorsports sections, he now spends his time here in the role of Senior Writer-Programmer. His well-rounded sports knowledge allows him to cover the NFL, NBA, PGA Tour, MLB, boxing, WWE, and NASCAR for Sportscasting. Luke is an avid golfer who finds inspiration in the way sports can bring people together and provide a distraction from the real world. He hopes to provide a little entertainment or an escape from the real world with every article he writes, even if only for a few minutes. In addition to his work here at Sportscasting, Luke's work has appeared on The Sportster, Inquisitr, GiveMeSport, FanSided, Yahoo! Fox Sports, and Sports Illustrated.
Get to know Luke Norris betterPublished23 Aug 2020
If you’re not on the Luka Doncic bandwagon yet, it’s time to go ahead and hop on.
With an absolutely brilliant performance on Sunday afternoon, Doncic not only helped the Dallas Mavericks tie up their first-round playoff series with the LA Clippers but also joined Magic Johnson in the NBA record books.
Nobody even knew if Luka Doncic would play against the Clippers on Sunday
Coming into Sunday’s Game 4 matchup with the LA Clippers, the majority of the world didn’t even know if Luka Doncic would suit up for the Dallas Mavericks. During the third quarter of the Mavs’ Game 3 loss on Friday, the reigning NBA Rookie of the Year left the game after severely turning his left ankle, which left him unable to put any weight on his left leg. He made a valiant effort to return in the fourth quarter but left again after playing only a few minutes and was seen on the bench with his ankle heavily taped.
Luka Doncic was listed as questionable for Sunday’s Game 4 but there he was in the starting lineup for Dallas at game time. And he put on quite the show.
He put up his second straight triple-double and hit the game-winning three at the buzzer
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If Luka Doncic was hurt in Game 4, it was hard to tell. The Mavericks got down big in the first half but the NBA’s newest megastar refused to let his team lose. With Kristaps Porzingis scratched just a few minutes before tipoff with soreness in his right knee, Doncic led the way with a historic triple-double that ended with the biggest shot of his young career.
Doncic played 46 of a possible 53 minutes in the overtime thriller, scoring 43 points on 18-for-31 shooting, including 4-of-10 from the three-point line, also adding 17 rebounds and 13 assists. He’s the only player in NBA history to have such a stat line in NBA playoff history and that buzzer-beating three-pointer to give the Mavs the victory will go down as the moment he went from being one of the game’s best young stars to being a global phenomenon. It was easily the biggest day of his young career and also a day in which he joined Magic Johnson in the record books.
Luka Doncic and Magic Johnson are the only players in NBA history to have two triple-doubles in their first four playoff games
Luka Doncic has been making history this entire series. With his triple-double in Game 3 on Friday night, which obviously could have been even better without the ankle sprain, he became the third-youngest player in NBA history to record a triple-double in a playoff game. Only LeBron James and Magic Johnson were younger when they achieved the feat.
Speaking of Magic Johnson, Luka Doncic now also stands alongside the Lakers legend as the only two players to record two triple-doubles in their first four playoff appearances.
Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks play the LA Clippers in a critical Game 5 on Tuesday. Could we possibly see more history?
All stats courtesy of Basketball Reference
