Luka's First Quarter Dominance
Luka Doncic leads the NBA with five 20+ point first quarters this season, including a recent 22-point Q1 performance. He's well ahead of Jalen Brunson and Jamal Murray who each have 2. Meanwhile, Doncic also dropped 44 points in just three quarters to lead the Lakers past Indiana 128-117.
Dončić's scoring prowess was on full display earlier this season when he erupted for a career-high 73 points against the Atlanta Hawks on January 26, 2024. That performance tied him for the fourth-most points ever scored in a single NBA game, placing him in the company of Wilt Chamberlain and David Thompson. The 73-point masterpiece was a model of efficiency; he shot 25-of-33 from the field (75.8%) and 8-of-13 from three-point range. This made him the first player in league history to score 70 or more points while shooting at least 75% from the field. In that same game, he also managed to grab 10 rebounds and dish out seven assists. His tendency for explosive starts is not a new phenomenon. Dončić holds the record for the most 20-point first quarters since the stat began being tracked in 1996-97, with 14 such quarters in his career. These monumental scoring efforts have often been a necessity. His 73-point game, for instance, snapped a three-game losing streak for the Mavericks at the time, leading them to a much-needed 148-143 victory. Now with the Lakers, his recent 44-point outing against Indiana put him in elite franchise history. He joined Kobe Bryant, Elgin Baylor, and Jerry West as the only Lakers to record 10 or more 40-point games in a single season. This consistent level of high-volume, efficient scoring keeps Dončić firmly in the league's MVP conversation. He has finished in the top 10 of MVP voting on five separate occasions and is consistently ranked among the top candidates for the award.
