SAN ANTONIO — Superstar Luka Doncic capped a historic five-game run with 51 points, and the Dallas Mavericks needed them all to beat the San Antonio Spurs.
Doncic had two rebounds and two free throws in the final 4.5 seconds and helped Dallas escape in a 126-125 win over San Antonio on Saturday night, the Mavs’ sixth straight.
It was Doncic’s third 50-point game in his last five games, including 60 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists in Tuesday night’s overtime win over the New York Knicks. He is the first player in NBA history with 250 points, 50 rebounds and 50 assists in five games.
“It’s incredible,” said Mavericks center Christian Wood. “In my seven years in the league I’ve never seen anyone do what they can do. He’s got an incredible run. He plays like an MVP. Clearly one of the best players in the league.”
Wood added 25 points in Dallas’ fifth straight win over San Antonio.
Keldon Johnson had 30 points for Sam Antonio, Jeremy Sochan added 20 and Jakob Poeltl had 19 points and 15 rebounds.
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After a 17-point lead, the Mavericks had to crack in the final minute.
San Antonio guard Tre Jones was fouled by Dallas forward Davis Bertans after Jones intentionally missed the second of two free throws, leaving the Spurs 126-124 behind. Jones then made the first free throw but missed the second.
Doncic missed two free throws by 1.5 seconds to stop San Antonio attempting a game-winning shot.
“It’s not easy to win here,” said Mavericks coach Jason Kidd. “But Luka was amazing again. He saves us again by missing free throws as many times as he wanted to take those free throws on the track so they didn’t have time to set up a game.”
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich had jokingly vowed to keep Doncic under 50 points. The Mavericks star almost played along.
“No, I just wanted to win,” Doncic said of his 51-point effort.
But 51 points was nice, right?
“Of course,” Doncic said with a big smile.
The 6-foot-7 forward hung on 49 points halfway through the fourth quarter but made two free throws with 4.5 seconds remaining to hit 50 points for a fourth time in his career. Doncic averaged 35.1 points in December, the highest single-month pointing average in Mavericks franchise history. Dallas legend Dirk Nowitzki had two 50-point games in his career.
Doncic dominated San Antonio with his usual array of stepbacks, midrange jumpers, three-pointers and free throws. He was 18-for-28 out of the field.
“Yes, we had a good team and individual performance with him, but he’s a great player,” said Popovich. “His IQ is off the charts. So we’d rather win than lose, like everyone else in the world, but [I’m] really proud of their efforts and the way they just kept going even after we got down, whatever it was, 13, 14 I can’t remember.”
Doncic had 22 points along with an assist in the first quarter, which accounted for all but eight of the Mavericks’ points in the opening period.