Mavericks star Luka Doncic enters elite Kobe Bryant-led club with wild playoff feat

After nearly climbing back from a 31-point deficit and stealing a win away from the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 4, the Dallas Mavericks left no doubt in Game 5, routing the Clips by the final score of 123-93 in Los Angeles to take a 3-2 series lead. As usual, leading the way for the Mavericks was Luka Doncic, their MVP candidate and do-everything superstar who scored 35 points on 14-for-26 shooting despite playing with a bum knee that Doncic himself admitted would likely be sidelining him if it weren’t the postseason.

In this pivotal Game 5 Mavericks win, Luka Doncic not only outscored a Clippers trio of future Hall of Famers all by himself — Paul George, James Harden and Russell Westbrook combined for 28 points on an abysmal 8-for-36 shooting — he also made a bit of NBA history in the process, joining a very exclusive club that at this moment only has five high-profile members including Basketball Hall of Famer, the late Kobe Bryant, according to the NBA History Twitter account.

“Luka Doncic recorded the 20th game of his career with 30 or more points in the #NBAPlayoffs presented by Google Pixel, becoming the 5th player in NBA history with at least 20 such games at age 25 or younger, joining: LeBron James (35), Kevin Durant (33), Kobe Bryant (32), Jayson Tatum (24).”

Frankly, it shouldn’t be a surprise to hear that Luka Doncic joins any sort of elite scoring club. For his career, the Mavericks star is averaging 32.2 points per game in the postseason, which is the second-highest mark in league history, trailing only Michael Jordan’s average of 33.4 points per game in the NBA Playoffs. Interestingly, or perhaps unfortunately if you’re Steve Ballmer or a fan of the Los Angeles Clippers, 11 of Luka Doncic’s 20 games with at least thirty points in the NBA Playoffs have come against LA. Even worse, seven of those 11 games of 30+ points have been played in Los Angeles.

The Dallas Mavericks now find themselves on the brink of defeating the Clippers for the first time in the postseason in the Luka Doncic era. So far, Doncic has yet to knock off the Clippers, falling just short in a pair of postseason series’ that have been riddled with games and performances that could go down as instant classics. With a win in Game 6 at home, the Mavericks would advance to the 2nd Round and face the Oklahoma City Thunder, the top seed in the Western Conference who made quick work of the New Orleans Pelicans in the opening round of the Playoffs.

Like the Clippers, the Thunder have a roster chock-full of players who should theoretically be able to give Luka Doncic fits. But as we’ve learned time and time again over the last six seasons, there is no easy solution or singular player who can keep Doncic in check.