Scoring outburst Friday was one for NBA record books
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' Luka Doncic leading the way with 50 points against Houston.
The others: Philadelphia's Joel Embiid scored 44 against the Clippers, Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a career-high 44 against New Orleans, New York's RJ Barrett had 44 against Chicago and Indiana's Tyrese Haliburton scored a career-best 43 against Miami.
“Luka is Luka,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “He's the best player in the world and he showed that tonight, carrying the load offensively again.”
As he usually does, Doncic deferred the credit.
“My teammates trusted me,” he said after his 17-for30 night that also included 10 rebounds and eight assists.
The biggest shot of the night in Dallas' 112-106 win over Houston 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 — the last of them with 4.3 seconds left to give the Pacers a 111-108 win over the Heat.
“Tyrese Haliburton is an artist,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said when asked about Haliburton's different-than-most shooting stroke. “And 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 Philadelphia's seventh consecutive win. Barrett and the Knicks wound up falling to the Bulls, and Gilgeous-Alexander's 44 came in an overtime loss to New Orleans — 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 128125 final.
“It was close. Not close enough,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.
There now have been just over 4,400 instances of a player scoring 40 or more points in a regularseason game. Friday was only the fifth time that five of those happened on the same day — and the second time it happened in 2022.
Warriors' Curry out two more weeks
Reigning NBA Finals MVP Stephen Curry will miss at least two more weeks for the Golden State Warriors as he recovers from a partial dislocation of the left shoulder he suffered Dec. 14 in a game at Indiana.
The 34-year-old Curry, who is averaging 30.0 points, 6.6 rebounds and 6.8 assists this season, has missed the past four games for the defending champions. The Warriors (15-18) said Saturday he was re-evaluated and is making good progress, with another exam scheduled in two weeks.
The Warriors host the Memphis Grizzlies today in a rematch of this year's Western Conference semifinals won by Golden State in five games.