Luka Doncic, in a record-setting performance against the Knicks Tuesday night, hit a game-tying putback off his own missed free throw, erasing what had been a nine-point Knicks lead with 27 seconds left in regulation. His teammates flicked the rebound his way, and the ball settled for a second on the fingertips of two Knicks defenders before rolling off, right back to Doncic. In two quick motions, the ever-efficient guard scooped up the ball and launched it again. Then he did a strange dance.
Doncic broke the Mavs' single-game scoring record (53, set by Dirk Nowitzki in 2004) and finished with 60 points, 21 rebounds, and 10 assists. No one in NBA history had ever before achieved a 60-20-10 line.He played so well that his primary defender's postgame quote was "I promise I was trying for sure." In losing, the Knicks accomplished something no NBA team has done in the last 20 seasons.
NBA teams were 0-13,884 in the last 20 seasons when trailing by at least nine with 35 or fewer seconds remaining, per @ESPNStatsInfo.
The ensuing OT would suck—it took almost four minutes for either team to make a field goal. But the dance! It is of vital importance that after viewing this highlight reel, you watch each angle of Doncic's dance. The base is a shuffle. The arms—they swish, or swim, or maybe flap. At first, I thought he was agitating for a foul call, but there was no accusation in this dance, only joy. After the game, Doncic said he had danced to celebrate something that hadn't yet happened:
“A lot of people asked me about this back in the locker room, and I said I thought we won it,” Doncic said. “That’s why I went to the crowd like this. I thought we won the game, and then I see it’s tied. I was like, ‘Oof.’”
I'm not sure the explanation makes sense; he had just intentionally missed a free throw because the Mavs were down two. But adrenaline has this effect, and this is definitely the dance of someone whose every faculty has momentarily escaped him.