Luka joins Jordan with historic scoring month
Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic became just the second player in NBA history to score 600 or more points in the month of March following a 42-point display in Tuesday's 127-113 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Doncic joins an exclusive club with the March milestone, as six-time NBA champion Michael Jordan is the only other player to accomplish the feat, doing so in 1987.
"I think Luka has had as good of a month as anybody that I can remember in the modern NBA, at least since I've been part of it," Lakers head coach JJ Redick told ESPN's Dave McMenamin.
Tuesday's outing was Doncic's third straight performance with 40-plus points, making him the 10th player in league history to register 600 or more points in a month. He also passed Lakers icon Kobe Bryant for the franchise record for most points in a month.
The victory capped a 15-2 March for the Lakers, who sit third in the Western Conference, 10 games back of first-place Oklahoma City Thunder.
"If you don't win, it doesn't really mean anything," Doncic told McMenamin. "So the run we've been on, it means a lot."
Although reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander remains the favorite to claim the distinction again, Doncic's late-season charge has thrust the six-time All-Star into the award's discussion.
"I never did that (in the past)," Doncic said about advocating for the award. "I'm not the one voting. ... But I think I've been playing pretty good. We've been winning. So that's it. That's all I got to say."
Doncic leads the NBA in scoring (33.8) while ranking third in assists (8.3) and sixth in steals (1.7), bettering Gilgeous-Alexander in each category. He's also averaging 7.8 rebounds per game to Gilgeous-Alexander's 4.4.
To his credit, Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 30.7 points on 56.8% shooting and 6.6 assists in March as the Thunder went 14-1 to maintain the league's best record.
Two of Los Angeles' six remaining regular-season games are against the Thunder, including Thursday's meeting in Oklahoma City.