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Luka Doncic shrugged off the raw emotion of his return to Dallas with a dazzling 45-point display against his former club as the Los Angeles Lakers downed the Mavericks 112-97 to punch their ticket to the NBA playoffs on Wednesday.
Doncic, who joined the Lakers from Dallas in February in one of the most shocking trades in NBA history, was given a rousing reception by Mavs fans packed into the American Airlines Center to pay tribute to their former hero. A pre-game video montage was screened in the arena just before Doncic was introduced to the sellout crowd of 20,841 fans, many wearing t-shirts bearing the words "Thanks for Everything", written in the 26-year-old's native Slovenian.
Doncic visibly teared up as he watched the tribute, and looked distraught as he was comforted by Lakers team-mate LeBron James moments before tip-off. But after that emotional pre-game ceremony, Doncic quickly snapped into game mode, swiftly getting into his scoring groove to give Mavericks fans a painful reminder of the generational talent that was traded away by the club.
Doncic scored 14 in the first quarter alone, and added a further 17 in the second period to help the Lakers into a 60-57 half-time lead. Doncic's rate of scoring slowed in the second half, leaving James to produce a trademark fourth quarter burst to close out victory. But there was still time for Doncic to sign off in style, nailing an imperious three-pointer to push the Lakers into a 108-94 lead shortly before exiting the game to a standing ovation.
The applause swiftly morphed into chants of "Fire Nico" - a reference to the Dallas general manager Nico Harrison who has been roundly criticised by Mavs for engineering the trade which sent Doncic to Los Angeles in exchange for Anthony Davis.
