In the finale of the 2023 Christmas game, the Suns faced the Mavericks at home, but the Suns passed two not-so-positive tidbits before the game, Gordon first thought that his offensive possession should be able to increase, and then Durant reported that the team is currently only 50% of the winning rate and the current situation is not good, whether these news are true or not, it shows that the Suns, who lost 8 of the 11 games before today's game, are indeed in a slump.
As the star of the Mavericks, Doncic has no reason to be merciful at this moment, and he has accumulated 9,989 points in his career before this game, and is bound to challenge the milestone of the 10,000th point in his career in this game, ranking first in the league in average points this season.
Second, second only to Embiid, he didn't make fans wait too long, with 4 minutes and 52 seconds left in the first quarter, Doncic threw in a super-large three-pointer, scoring the 10,001st point of his career, and it took 358 games to reach the goal, the seventh fastest in history.
He scored 17 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the first quarter, helping the Mavericks take a double-digit lead early in the first quarter, and the Suns did not improve significantly in the second quarter, shooting only 37 percent from the field in the first half5%, fortunately, at the end of the second quarter, several consecutive fast breaks, only to catch up to only 10 points.
After the rematch, the Suns changed formations, Metu, who performed well in the first half, replaced Eubanks who replaced the starters today, and at first let the Mavericks maintain a basic lead, and then finally relied on Allen and Gordon to start chasing points with consecutive three-pointers, Metu finally entered the situation, relying on his mobility to score points again and again, 3 minutes and 37 seconds Allen made a steal and scored three points again, the Suns finally took the lead in this battle, and the Mavericks relied on Doncic and Derrick Jones Jr. to make two three-pointers in succession in the last minute of the third quarter before chasing a point behind into the fourth quarter. The Suns' scoring offensive in the third quarter was all carried out by the "Green Leaves", Booker and KD combined for only 5 points, but Allen scored 19 points on 5-of-7 three-pointers in a single quarter, Gordon scored 8 points, and Metu had 6 points and 6 rebounds, resisting Doncic's 14-point firepower in a single quarter.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, KD scored five points with free throws, but then Doncic took over the game, not his own three-point shot. It was he who found the opportunity created by his teammates after being trapped, and Derrick Jones Jr., who was released by the Suns in the third quarter, finally hit the outside, which also affected the Suns' defensive decision-making, Maverick Lively II and Derrick Jones Jr. scored 8 points each in a single quarter, very competent to support Doncic, on the other hand, the Suns KD has since turned off, and the three-point shots that the team has won in the third quarter are only 1 of 8 shots in the fourth quarter, and the Mavericks did not let the Suns chase after a wave of 19:7 after the score, and the Suns shouted a timeout, but Metu and KD made consecutive mistakes, especially KD made a mistake in the last 1 minute and 34 seconds for the Mavericks to score against the fast break, so that the gap between the two sides opened up to 12 points, the outcome of the suspense is lost. Doncic last 29He threw in 5 seconds and accumulated 50 points, becoming the fourth player in NBA history to score 50 points on Christmas, and also gave the Mavericks a 128-114 away win.
Doncic scored 50 points in the first and last two quarters, with six rebounds and 14 assists, Derrick Jones Jr., who has been taking advantage of the opportunity, scored a season-high 23 points, rookie center Lively II scored 20 points and 10 rebounds on 8-of-9 shooting, and Hardaway also had 18 points. Allen, who broke out in the third quarter of the Suns, scored the second-highest 32 points of his career, and made 8 three-pointers to tie his career record, but failed to win, and Metu came off the bench to score 23 points and 19 rebounds, and both wrote career highs, but the two leading stars were relatively quiet, Booker scored 20 points and 10 assists, and KD only made 11 shots, scoring 16 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists.
In the past Christmas games, the former Knicks star Bernard King scored the highest 60 points in the battle against the Nets in 1984, and it was also the only Christmas game in history where he scored 60 points, Zhang Dashuai scored 59 points in 1961, and the other person who could reach the 50 points on Christmas was the former Warriors Rick Barry, who scored 50 points in the 1966 San Francisco Warriors (the predecessor of the Cash State Warriors) and the Cincinnati Royals (the predecessor of the current Kings). Today, Doncic is in the "Christmas 50 Club," tying Rick Barry for the third-highest all-time.