Luka Doncic becomes the youngest player to ever reach 1000+ three pointers

Luka Doncic is one fire. The Slovenian star just scored 35 points and led the Mavericks to a 120-133 victory over the Grizzlies on Monday night. After dropping in 5 out of his 10 attempts from beyond the arc, he became the youngest player to ever reach 1000-career three pointers.

With last night’s threes, the Dallas guard reached this milestone with 24 years, 286 days old. The second-youngest player to accomplish this mark was Boston star Jayson Tatum, who did it at 24 years and 344 days of age. However, Indiana’s Buddy Hield is the player who achieved this with fewest games (350), while Luka needed 351.

“When you talk about MVPs, one of the best players in the world, Luka can do that with anybody,”  said head coach Jason Kidd. “He displayed that this evening.”

MILESTONE: Luka Dončić has made 1,000 threes for his career.

He is the second fastest player in NBA history to make 1,000 threes (351 games). pic.twitter.com/7083YhA407

— Mavs Fans For Life (@MavsFansForLife) December 12, 2023

Other players who contributed to the Mavs’ third-consecutive triumph were Jaden Hardy, who scored 19 points off the bench, and Dante Exum with 16 points. This win came despite the fact that Dallas are dealing with a handful of injured players, including the squad’s second-leading scorer Kyrie Irving.

“Obviously, we had a lot of people out,” Luka said postmatch. “I said before the game: ‘Everybody be ready.’ The trust factor was huge this game.”

Hardy had a special night, as he hit 7 of 15 from the floor and 5 of 7 from range. He told the press he was full of confidence after the game. “When I’m out there and the ball is finding me, it’s just being ready to shoot,” he said. “I feel like if I’m open, I feel like it is going to go in every time I shoot. Just having the confidence when I’m out there.”

On Memphis’ side, Jaren Jackson Jr. scored a season-high 41 points, while Desmond Bane contributed with 28. The only other Grizzlies player who dropped in double figures was Vince Williams Jr. with 10.

“We didn’t have many guys play well tonight,” expressed coach Taylor Jenkins said. “There was a portion of the game here and there. The second half a little bit better. We can just lean on Des and JJ. So we all have to keep working and play better.”

Portland coach Chauncey Billups calls Doncic the “hardest guy” to game plan against for a defense

After this weekend’s matchup between the Mavericks and Trail Blazers, rival coach Chauncey Billups praised the Slovenian star by saying he’s the most difficult player to game-plan against for a defense.

“He’s probably the hardest guy to game-plan for in the league because you can play him perfectly and it not matter,” he said after losing to Dallas on Friday. “He’s just that good. He really is. There are certain players in the league that even if you play good [defense] and they miss the shot, most of the time they just missed the shot. It wasn’t the defense.”

Doncic is a six-foot-seven guard with the capacity of drilling step-back threes, making precise reads, quick dribbles with no-look passes, playing out of the post and using a slow piece on drives.

“He’s so big, if you blitz him, he can see over the top of it, knows where it’s coming from,” the Portland coach said. “He can do it all. But that doesn’t discourage us from trying it all.”