The NBA has not seen a season-opening scoring streak like Luka Doncic’s scorching start to this season in 60 years.
Doncic had 33 points in Dallas’ 103-100 win over the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night, meaning the 23-year-old superstar has scored 30-plus points in each of the Mavericks‘ first seven games.
That feat has only been accomplished three other times in NBA history, and not since Wilt Chamberlain scored 30-plus points in each of the first 23 games of the 1962-63 season.
Chamberlain also scored more than 30 in each of the first eight games of the 1959-60 season, the same season Jack Twyman scored 30-plus in the first seven games.
A first-team All-NBA selection the last three seasons, Doncic has frequently found himself on short lists with legendary hall-of-fame players. He noted that it seems that Chamberlain is “always there.”
Doncic had 11 assists, marking his fourth 30-point, 10-assist performance already this season. The rest of the NBA has combined for four such performances this season.
Doncic also broke Mark Aguirre’s Mavericks’ franchise record for the longest streak of 30-point games.
“Amazing, but I’m not surprised,” Dallas guard Spencer Dinwiddie said of Doncic’s historic start to the season. “Luka’s a savant in every sense of the word as it applies to basketball. Nothing shocks me. Obviously, he’s young, and the best is yet to come. I think he’s going to set a lot of records for the Mavs and be in the conversation with the greats.”
Doncic is averaging a league-high 36.1 points per game, the third highest-scoring average through seven games in the last 60 seasons behind Michael Jordan (37.0 in 1986-87) and James Harden (36.6 in 2019-20).
“I think it’s special when you talk about M.J. and Wilt, that’s rare air, and we get to see that on a nightly basis,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said after the game. “That’s pretty cool. A 23-year-old kid that is playing on this level is really, really special to see. He can do it in so many ways, when you talk about posting up or getting to the basket, shooting the three, or shooting that little step back.
“It’s really cool to watch, and it just shows the focus that he has right now. He’s carrying the team and putting the team in position to win.”
After the game, Doncic noted this season’s start is a stark contrast to his slow start last season when he admittedly reported to training camp out of shape.
“I just know from last year I had to start better because the way I started last year wasn’t acceptable,” said Doncic, who is hitting 51.4% of his shots. “I tried to learn from that and just do better than last year.”
Despite Doncic’s impressive performance, the Mavericks had to rally from a 15-point third-quarter deficit.
Dallas charged back and took the lead for the first time since the first five minutes of the first quarter at 86-84 on Josh Green’s three-pointer from the left corner with 7:48 to play.
Reggie Bullock’s three-pointer from the left corner with 35 seconds left — his only made shot of the game — gave Dallas a 103-98 lead. Bullock had missed his previous three shots, all from three-point range.
Sixth-man center Christian Wood was productive down the stretch for Dallas with 21 points, including 17 in the second half, on 10-of-15 shooting. Dinwiddie also was effective in crunch time, scoring 10 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter.
Dwight Powell, another reserve center, tallied nine points, five rebounds, one block, and one steal for a plus-25 net rating in 19 minutes.
The win gives the Mavericks (4-3) their first winning streak of the season at two games.
The Jazz (6-3) came in on a two-game winning streak, surprising many after trading away All-Stars Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell during the offseason and fielding a dramatically different team from the one that lost to Dallas 4-2 in the first round of last season’s playoffs.
Jordan Clarkson led Utah with 22 points and had a season-high eight assists for the Jazz, but his potential game-tying three-pointer from the left corner as time expired fell short.
Utah entered the game second in the NBA with an average of 15.1 made three-pointers per game. After connecting on six long-range shots in the first quarter, they finished 10-for-30 (33.3%).
Though the Mavericks were not better shooting from behind the arc, 11-of-38 (28.9%), they outscored the Jazz 29-22 in the fourth quarter to complete their second double-digit comeback win in the last five games.
