The NBA went into Christmas with a night like none other.
For the first time in NBA history, five players scored at least 43 points on the same day. It happened Friday, with Dallas鈥� against Houston.
The others: Philadelphia鈥檚 Joel Embiid scored 44 against the Los Angeles Clippers, Oklahoma City鈥檚 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a career-high 44 against New Orleans, New York鈥檚 RJ Barrett had 44 against Chicago and Indiana鈥檚 Tyrese Haliburton scored a career-best 43 against Miami.
鈥淟uka is Luka," Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 the best player in the world and he showed that tonight, carrying the load offensively again."
As he usually does, Doncic deferred the credit.
鈥淢y teammates trusted me," he said after his 17-for-30 night that also included 10 rebounds and eight assists.
The biggest shot of the night in might have been Doncic hitting a 3-pointer with 19 seconds left to give the Mavericks a five-point lead.
And that wasn't even the most dramatic 3 that the night's big scorers had.
That honor went to Haliburton, who made 10 3-pointers 鈥� to give the .
鈥淭yrese Haliburton is an artist," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said when asked about Haliburton's different-than-most shooting stroke. 鈥淎nd you know, some people that have unconventional ways to be successful in this game, you have to just leave them alone and allow them to do what they do. His artistry is the way he gets the ball in the basket, the way he sees the game, the way he connects teammates and the special person that he is."
Embiid's big night came in . Barrett and the , and came in an 鈥� which he nearly extended into double overtime, with a 40-foot desperation shot at the end hitting the front rim at the buzzer of a 128-125 final.
鈥淚t was close. Not close enough," said Gilgeous-Alexander, whose great start to this season has cemented himself as an early front-runner for NBA's Most Improved Player honors 鈥� not to mention other postseason accolades, and likely a trip to the All-Star Game as well.
There now have been just over 4,400 instances of a player scoring 40 or more points in a regular-season game. Friday was only the fifth time that five of those happened on the same day 鈥� and the second time it happened in 2022.
On April 10, the final day of the 2021-22 regular season, Obi Toppin had 42 for New York, Jalen Green had 41 for Houston, Malik Monk scored 41 for the Los Angeles Lakers, Klay Thompson had 41 for Golden State and Victor Oladipo scored 40 for Miami.
The other three instances of five 40-point scorers:
鈥� Feb. 21, 2003 鈥� Tracy McGrady scored 52 for Orlando, Jamal Mashburn 50 for the New Orleans Hornets, Michael Jordan 43 for Washington, Allen Iverson 41 for Philadelphia and Kobe Bryant 40 for the Lakers.
鈥� Feb. 2, 2001 鈥� Allen Iverson scored 47 for Philadelphia, Bryant 44 for the Lakers, Chris Webber 41 for Sacramento, Paul Pierce 40 for Boston and Jerry Stackhouse 40 for Detroit.
鈥� Dec. 25, 1961 鈥� Wilt Chamberlain scored 59 for the Philadelphia Warriors, Tom Heinsohn 45 for Boston, Elgin Baylor 40 for the Lakers, Richie Guerin 40 for New York and Oscar Robertson 40 for Cincinnati.
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Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press
