Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic scores career-high 51 points, wishes Kristaps Porzingis well after win

DALLAS — Hours after the Mavericks traded their other player on a maximum contract, Luka Doncic sizzled as Dallas' lone star, scoring a career-high 51 points in a 112-105 win over the LA Clippers on Thursday.

As fans filled the American Airlines Center, where workers had to remove giveaway posters of Kristaps Porzingis from the seats after he was traded to the Washington Wizards on Thursday, the buzz was about the former All-Star that the Mavs moved before the trade deadline. It didn't take long for Doncic to command the crowd's attention.

Doncic swished a 26-foot step-back 3 on the Mavs' first possession to open the floodgates. He finished the first quarter with 28 points — the most by any NBA player in a quarter this season — on 10-of-13 shooting, including 7-of-10 from 3-point range.

«When you feel like that, you just don't want to be stopped and keep going,» Doncic said. «All the shots felt good. I missed two 3s — even those felt great. They were switching. They didn't want me to create, so I had to go to work.»

Doncic torched the Clippers' switching defense — repeatedly exploiting center Ivica Zubac on the perimeter, as he did during Dallas' seven-game series loss in the first round last season — until L.A. adjusted by sending traps at him to force the ball out of his hands. Doncic finished 17-of-26 from the floor and 7-of-14 from 3-point range while also recording nine rebounds and six assists.

«Luka was aggressive from the start and the guys just went for the ride,» Dallas coach Jason Kidd said.

It was the fifth 50-point performance in Mavs history and first for the 22-year-old Doncic, who is already a two-time first-team All-NBA selection. He could have attempted to tie or break Dirk Nowitzki's franchise record