In an alternate universe, this game represents a symbolic passing of the torch. After a short run of exciting play culminating in a disastrous performance against the Spurs, Luka Doncic gets into his own head way too deep and is never the same, eventually retiring after three years to become a hermit in Iceland, but as a consolation prize for the Mavericks, Jalen Brunson surprises everybody by building on this 34 point game, going on an incredible scoring run to the end the season with multiple 40 point games and carrying that ability through the rest of his career, which ends with him having multiple MVP trophies and rings.
In another alternate universe, immediately as the Mavericks head to the bus after this game, Salah Mejri farts so hard that an atomically small bubble of “true vacuum” forms, which immediately expands to fill the entire universe, destroying all matter.
But we, sadly, live in this universe, where you don’t and never will have a girlfriend because of your numerous personality flaws and displeasing countenance. In this lame universe, there is a small chance that the first (also the second, oh god) paragraph comes to pass, but only because God/gods/chaos saw it and thought it would be funny if it really happened.
Enough speculation about the future. What we care about is the NOW, or the recent past, because what definitely did happen (that the universe can never take away from us) is that Brunson scored a whole heck of a lot of points on national TV where everyone could see how much of a beast he was. It almost goes without saying, but this is the most points any second-rounder has scored in a game this season. I thought, maybe, that it was the most points any second-rounder has scored in a game for a long time, but me being a dummy forgot about Dillon Brooks and Alec Peters (I hope he likes Russia) scoring 36 last season. So if Brunson really wants to put his name in the history books, he’d better start gunning for 40 right now. There’s not much season left.
Heck, let’s make that 50. He should start gunning for 50. The league hasn’t seen a rookie score 50 since Brandon Jennings. And if Brunson is going to have a notable career, he has to at least be able to surpass that dude.