{"id":182334,"date":"2026-03-20T08:30:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T12:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=182334"},"modified":"2026-03-20T11:33:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T15:33:00","slug":"luka-doncic-mvp-case-lakers-60-point-outburst-special-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/03\/20\/luka-doncic-mvp-case-lakers-60-point-outburst-special-run\/","title":{"rendered":"Luka Doncic Builds MVP Case With 60-Point Outburst, ‘Special Run’"},"content":{"rendered":"

If fans at the Kaseya Center thought they were done witnessing <\/span>offensive masterclasses<\/span><\/a>, think again.<\/span><\/p>\n

Los Angeles Lakers superstar <\/span>Luka Doncic<\/span><\/a>\u2014fresh off a 40-point effort in a win over the Houston Rockets\u2014brought the heat to Miami with a 60-point eruption<\/a> as LA escaped with a 134-126 win Thursday night. The victory not only marked the purple and gold\u2019s eighth straight, but it also underscored Doncic\u2019s candidacy for this year\u2019s MVP award.<\/span><\/p>\n

Luka Doncic Builds MVP Case With 60-Point Outburst, ‘Special Run’<\/h2>\n

JJ Redick on Doncic\u2019s Heroics<\/h3>\n

Doncic\u2019s 60 came on 18-of-30 shooting from the field, including 9-of-17 from three-point range. He also tallied seven rebounds, three assists and five steals in his 38 minutes of action, which concluded with <\/span>\u201cMVP\u201d chants in the waning moments<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou hear the whole crowd chanting \u2018MVP,\u2019 that\u2019s what I think every player wants to hear,\u201d <\/span>Doncic told reporters<\/span><\/a>. \u201cSo I got a lot of goosebumps. It was pretty special.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a superhero performance,\u201d head coach JJ Redick <\/span>said<\/span><\/a> postgame. \u201cI thought him really keeping us afloat early was really important. \u2026 He made big shots, he made tough shots, made a lot of right reads. When he gets it going like that, some of it is\u2014you just kind of like, let him go. His teammates felt that, they saw that. \u2026 The shot-making was unreal tonight.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c[His teammates] are enjoying it probably as much as he is right now,\u201d Redick added. \u201cIt\u2019s a special run that he\u2019s on. And we\u2019ve seen all-time greats like him go on these runs, and you just kinda gotta embrace it and enjoy the moment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Aside from his season-high, Doncic etched his name in the Lakers\u2019 history books once more, becoming the Lakers\u2019 <\/span>single-season leader in made three-pointers<\/span><\/a> with 232 (and counting) in just 58 games. He surpassed former Laker <\/span>D\u2019Angelo Russell<\/span><\/a>\u2019s mark of 226 set in 2024<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Doncic Shakes Up MVP Race<\/h3>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

Doncic\u2019s nuclear scoring has kept him roaming in MVP talks, with Friday morning\u2019s <\/span>MVP ladder<\/span><\/a> boosting him above <\/span>Nikola Jokic<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Victor Wembanyama<\/span><\/a> to trail only <\/span>Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/span><\/a>. It\u2019s a well-deserved promotion that only amplifies his case.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo the MVP point, we would not be anywhere near the position we\u2019re in without him having the season that he\u2019s having,\u201d Redick said in his postgame press conference. \u201cParticularly [as] of late, he\u2019s dominating right now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the course of the Lakers\u2019 eight-game winning streak, Doncic has <\/span>averaged<\/span><\/a> 40.9 points, 8.9 rebounds and 7.4 assists on 50.2% shooting from the field, 42.2% from three and 78.6% from the free-throw line. On the season, in which the Lakers stand at third in the West at 45-25 overall, he\u2019s put up 33.4 points, 7.9 rebounds and 8.4 assists on .477\/.370\/.772 splits.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even as the rankings fluctuate in the home stretch, there\u2019s no denying the Slovenian superstar should stay a top-three candidate. If Doncic continues his generational run while the Lakers stack wins over contenders, he could very well give SGA a run for his money. That\u2019s no small feat considering the latter\u2019s own success and OKC\u2019s 55-15 record fresh off a championship. Fans and voters will have two more chances to see Luka and SGA square off in marquee matchups: Apr. 2 in OKC and Apr. 7 in LA.<\/span><\/p>\n

For now, however, Doncic and the Lakers will focus on closing out their road trip. They face the Orlando Magic on Saturday, Mar. 21, and the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday, Mar. 25, both games slated for 4 p.m. PT.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 Isabella Frias-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If fans at the Kaseya Center thought they were done witnessing offensive masterclasses, think again. Los Angeles Lakers superstar Luka Doncic\u2014fresh off a 40-point effort in a win over the Houston Rockets\u2014brought the heat to Miami with a 60-point eruption as LA escaped with a 134-126 win Thursday night. The victory not only marked the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":182352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,26,62,3],"tags":[2279,1133,72,1489,4669],"class_list":["post-182334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","category-news","tag-jj-redick","tag-luka-doncic","tag-nikola-jokic","tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","tag-victor-wembanyama"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182334"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":182369,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182334\/revisions\/182369"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}