How Luka Doncic’s 73-Point Night Impacted NBA MVP Odds
Todd Kirkland/Getty Images. Pictured: Luka Doncic #77 of the Dallas Mavericks reacts during the second quarter against the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena.
Scoring in the NBA has been outrageous this month and Luka Doncic's career-high 73-point night added yet another sensational performance to the list of outbursts we've seen in January.
Doncic put up the highest-scoring performance of this NBA season just four days after Joel Embiid scored 70 points. Doncic's performance was also the second-highest scoring outburst for any NBA player since Kobe Bryant dropped 81 in 2006.
LUKA CONVERTS THE AND-1 TO GIVE HIM 70 POINTS 🔥 pic.twitter.com/OEP4j8Y7Xo
— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) January 27, 2024
The parallels to Embiid's Monday night performance are uncanny. Just like Embiid's historic night overshadowed Karl-Anthony Towns scoring 62 points in a loss, Doncic's 73 points will make everyone outside of Arizona forget that Devin Booker scored 62 points Friday night in a loss.
The rate of high-scoring NBA games has been staggering. There have been 12 50-point games in the NBA this season (Doncic also had one of those on Christmas Day). And we've now had five 60-point games this season, which is the third-most 60-point games in a season in NBA history. The other two seasons were in Wilt Chamberlain's prime.
Prior this week, there had only been three instances of two players scoring at least 60 points on the same night: Elgin Baylor and Chamberlain on Dec. 12, 1961, Jerry West and Chamberlain on Jan. 17, 1962 and David Thompson and George Gervin on March 9, 1978.
Doncic wasn't just chucking up jump shots against the Hawks in his record night. He finished the night 25-of-33 from the floor (75%), which is the best field-goal percentage in NBA history for a player who scored at least 70 points in a single game.
So how much did Doncic's amazing night move NBA MVP odds? Entering Friday, Doncic was listed at +750 to win MVP at FanDuel and was behind Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. While Doncic didn't overtake any of those three stars, his odds dipped from +750 to +600.
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