Luka Doncic Becomes First NBA Player To Ever Score 40 In Playoff Debut

The biggest stages has never been too large for Luka Doncic, and the NBA playoffs proved no exception.

Despite an early rocky start, the Dallas Mavericks phenom scored 42 points in their 118-110 Game 1 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday at the Orlando bubble. The 21-year-old became the first NBA player to ever score at least 40 in a postseason debut. Doncic shot 13-of-21 from the field and 15-of-16 from the line to go with nine assists, seven rebounds, three steals and 11 turnovers. That turnover total is one shy of James Harden’s playoff record.

The Clippers have two of the best two-way perimeter players in the league in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George along with Patrick Beverley, so they’re almost custom designed slow down a young superstar like Doncic. Luka committed four quick turnovers early on and tweaked his ankle during an opening 18-2 run for L.A. But Doncic scored 11 in the first with five turnovers, and Dallas withstood the Clippers early barrage to lead by four after the first quarter.

The Mavs shot 12-for-21 from three in the first half and led by as much as 14 in the second quarter and led 69-66 at half behind 19 from Doncic and a combined 34 points from Kristaps Porzingis, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Seth Curry.

But the game really turned with 9:10 left in the third quarter after Doncic got called for a carry and Porzingis got into a shoving match with Marcus Morris, leading to Porzingis’ controversial second technical foul and an automatic ejection.

Dallas’ offense never really recovered. The Mavs managed just 13 third quarter points, 11 of them coming from Doncic. They tied the game at 91 early in the fourth and Luka’s floater made it 99-98 Los Angeles with 6:19 left but that’s the closest Dallas would get.

Doncic is used to the big stage, having won the EuroLeague MVP and Final Four MVP in his last season with Real Madrid in 2018 at just 19 years old, but this performance was on another level. If Luka plays like this and Porzingis can stay on the court, the Mavs could make this series closer than a lot of people thought it could be.