On Tuesday night, Luka Doncic put on one of the best performances in NBA history, putting up a stat line that’s hard to believe even as I sit here writing it. overtime win over the Knicks.
It’s the first 60-point, 20-rebound triple-double in NBA history, and just the second 60-point triple-double of any kind, joining James Harden’s 60-11-10 streak from 2018. Here are seven numbers to learn from Luca’s incredible night.
- All-time first 60 points, 20 rebounds, 10 assists
- Second 60-point triple-double all-time (James Harden, 60-11-10)
- First 60-point, 20-rebound game since Shaq in 2000
- NBA’s first 60-point game this season
- Mavericks single game scoring record
- Doncic’s career highs (points and rebounds)
- Doncic’s 56.3 ppg is sixth best since 1983-84
That last number is our CBS Sports research unit. The game score reflects the full box score to identify the best performances from a single game. Here is the only top five to surpass Doncic’s 56.3 since 1883-84.
- Michael Jordan (64.6): 69 points, 23-37 FG, 18 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals
- Kobe Bryant (63.5). 81 points, 28-46 FG, 18-20 FG, 3 Stl
- Karl Malone (60.2): 61 points, 21-26 FG, 19-23 FT, 18 REB
- David Thompson (57.0). 73 pts, 28-38 FG, 17-20 FT, 7 Reb
- James Harden (56.6): 60 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists, 17-18 FT, 4 steals.
- Luka Doncic (56.3): 60 points, 21 rebounds, 10 assists, 21-31 FG, 16-22 FT
Wilt Chamberlain’s numbers are supposed to be legendary. Doncic leads them here. Wilt’s most points ever in a game in which he also had 20 rebounds was 53.
I mean, it was just crazy how easy Luca was to pull off this look. There is no way the Mavericks are going to win. They were down by 9 with 33 seconds to play. With 4.2 seconds left and Dallas down by two, Luca intentionally missed a free throw, won the layup and scored to tie the game.
Another number for your consideration: 13,884. That’s the number of games in which a team has led by at least nine points with 35 seconds or less remaining on Tuesday. Want to know how many of those teams lost the game? Zero. Nobody: Sorry, Knicks fans.
“I’m tired as hell,” Doncic said in his post-match interview. He should be. It’s not often we can say something like this, but we may never see a game like this in our lifetime. This includes everyone reading this. Actually everyone on the planet. Regardless of age. I know records are made to be broken, but a 60-point, 20-rebound triple-double might last forever.
Is this enough to propel Doncic into the crowded early MVP race? It’s hard to argue against that. On a night where Joel Embiid dropped 48 and 10, Doncic made that line look downright childish, mostly even with Embiid as the league’s leading scorer (33.7 to 33.6). But this is beyond the numbers. A night like this hits at a gut level. Doncic is the most amazing player we have in today’s game. He took our breath away again on Tuesday.
