The Detroit Pistons may want to have a word with their assistant coach Jerome Allen. For some reason, he decided to talk a bunch of shit to Luka Doncic. You know, one of the best players in the NBA and someone who relishes dishing pain out on his opponents. That predictably and hilariously backfired. Doncic went off for 24 points in the first quarter and finished the game with a stat line of 53 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals with four turnovers. 

For the life of me, I don’t understand why you would want to antagonize a potential MVP candidate. Yet here we are. The Slovenian assassin had no mercy near the end of the game either, as he was happy to troll the Pistons bench with 7.1 seconds left in the game.

This latest scoring explosion is the fourth time that Doncic has registered over 50 points this season, and will have felt especially sweet because he had to make a bunch of clutch shots to help the Dallas Mavericks eke out the 111-105 victory. Ahead by only three points with around four minutes left in the game, Doncic went on to score eight of the Mavericks’ last 10 points.

The fact that Doncic did this one night after fellow European Giannis Antetokounmpo dropped his own 50-piece is another reminder that basketball is truly a global game now. Doncic, Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic are deservedly amongst the frontrunners for the Michael Jordan trophy because all three are playing at an unreal level. It’s almost expected that they’ll pull off crazy performances like this on the regular.

Doncic also managed to set a brand new Mavericks record, and now holds the franchise record for most points in regulation. He previously had it tied with Dirk Nowitzki at 51 points, as the German legend previously hit the mark twice. 

Dallas haven’t had a particularly great time of late, having gone 4-6 over their last 10 games, but all it takes is a small string of wins to jump up in the standings in the tight Western Conference. For example, the Minnesota Timberwolves just dropped from the fifth to the ninth seed after losing to the Sacramento Kings. 

Let’s hope that coach Allen’s learned his lesson when it comes to Doncic, though. You don’t want to give a player like him any additional motivation to beat your team.

Doncic will be the one to decide whether or not Dallas stay in the top six, and with more nights like this, the Mavericks may just pull it off.