MIAMI (AP) — Luka Doncic stepped to the foul line in the final moments and couldn't help but hear what the crowd was yelling, over and over and over again.

An MVP chant.

On the road, no less.

"I think every player wants to hear it," Doncic said. "I got a lot of goosebumps, so it was pretty special.”

The cheers in Miami were certainly warranted, after Doncic — the NBA's scoring leader — put together one of the best games of his life, a 60-point masterpiece that helped the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Miami Heat 134-126.

He's now 1.9 points per game ahead of Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the scoring race, is averaging 37.2 points per game in March, is averaging 35.1 points per game since the All-Star break. He's hitting his best stride and it's no coincidence that the Lakers — now winners of eight straight — are doing the same.

“It became just an incredible display of shotmaking, drawing fouls, etc.,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We just probably weren't active enough to get the ball out of his hands. ... We didn't get to enough stuff to keep him at least a little bit off-balance.”

Doncic's final numbers from Thursday night, done on the same court where Miami's Bam Adebayo had his 83-point game against Washington earlier this month: 18 for 30 from the field, 9 for 17 from 3-point range, 15 for 19 from the line, with seven rebounds and five steals in there as well. Oh, and it should be noted that it was on the second night of a back-to-back, one where the Lakers played in Houston on Wednesday and didn't get to their hotel in Miami until 5:10 a.m. on Thursday.

“It was a superhero performance,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said.

It tied the second-most points Doncic scored in a game, behind a 73-point night against Atlanta in 2024 and matching a 60-point night against New York in 2022 — both of those efforts coming when the Slovenian superstar played for Dallas.

Doncic also broke the scoring record for a Heat opponent, topping the 58-point effort from James Harden for Houston on Feb. 28, 2019.

Coaches always root for their own guys in award races, and rightly so. It shouldn't surprise anyone that Redick thinks Doncic should win MVP. But he's been openly wondering why Doncic — who has never finished higher than third in the MVP voting — isn't talked about more as a top contender this season, if not the very top contender.

And that was before Doncic had his 60-point outing Thursday.

“I think he’s playing as well as anyone in basketball," Redick said. "He’s really elevated his play at a really important time for our team. He’s elevated the play of his teammates. ... He's one of the best and should be in the M-word conversation. Hopefully, people will start talking about that because he’s having as good a season as anyone.”

BetMGM Sportsbook lists Doncic as the second choice in the NBA race — but a distant second behind Gilgeous-Alexander, last year's winner.

Doncic's night in Miami was so stellar that it overshadowed another record for LeBron James, who tied Robert Parish's all-time NBA mark for games played, and did so in a matchup where he had a 19-point, 15-rebound, 10-assist triple double.

James marveled at how easily Doncic made getting to 60 points look.

“It wasn’t even like he was trying to force his way to get it," James said. “I mean, everything came in the flow. Once he got hot in that third (quarter), obviously he had a red hand and he just kept it going and then made some big time plays for us in the fourth. ... Big time, big time, big time.”

___

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

MIAMI (AP) — Luka Doncic scored 60 points, LeBron James had a triple-double on a night where he tied the NBA record for games played, and the Los Angeles Lakers pushed their season-best winning streak to eight games with a 134-126 win over the Miami Heat on Thursday night.

It tied the second-most points Doncic ever scored in a game, behind a 73-point night against Atlanta in 2024 and matching a 60-point night against New York in 2022. Doncic also broke the record for a Heat opponent, topping the 58-point effort from James Harden for Houston on Feb. 28, 2019.

Doncic — the NBA's scoring leader — has now scored at least 30 points in eight consecutive games, reached 50 for the second time in his last five games and did so on the second night of a back to back. James finished with 19 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists, and Austin Reaves scored 18 for the Lakers.

Bam Adebayo had 28 points for Miami, which has dropped three straight. Tyler Herro scored 21 points and Norman Powell had 20 for Miami, which led by as many as 15 in the early going.

James didn't miss a shot until early in the fourth quarter, meaning he connected on 21 of 22 in a span of just over seven quarters. He made his last shot attempt in Monday's win at Houston, then went 13 for 14 in Wednesday's win over the Rockets, followed by a 7-for-7 start against the Heat.

But Doncic was the story, getting 39 of his 60 after halftime. He finished 18 of 30 from the field, 9 of 17 from 3-point range and 15 of 19 from the foul line.

The Heat were without Jaime Jaquez Jr. (left hip tightness) and Andrew Wiggins (toe).

Up next

Lakers: Visit Orlando on Saturday.

Heat: Visit Houston on Saturday.

___

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Venus Williams watched the forehand sail into the net, the final shot of her loss to Francesca Jones of Britain at the Miami Open on Thursday afternoon.

Nobody seemed to know what to do next.

Jones, who wasn't even alive when Williams won her first two Grand Slam titles, raised her arms into the air to celebrate, then put them down after a few seconds. And on the way to the net, Jones saw Williams coming her way and did something not often seen after a match.

She bowed.

Such is the level of adoration that Jones — and surely plenty of others — have for Williams, who has been one of the biggest names in tennis for about three decades now. Williams broke into a big smile when Jones bowed, then offered a handshake, then a hug and even a quick word of encouragement. And Jones, oddly, was almost apologetic when her 7-5, 7-5 win was over.

“I've had a really rough year so far,” Jones said in the on-court interview following the match. “A lot of injuries and I'm still sick. I was coughing all the time. I was worried I was going to make a legend sick as well.”

She truly does think of Venus — and her sister Serena Williams — as legends.

Jones still has posters in her childhood bedroom of the sisters, wishing them good night before she goes off to sleep when she's there. She still remembers being taken by her father to Centre Court at Wimbledon as a 5-year-old so she could watch her heroes play.

“If it weren't for those two women, I'm not sure I would have made the step to do it. ... They're the reason that I'm here today,” Jones said.

When the match ended, fans slowly rose to their feet, first applauding Jones, then breaking into a full-on ovation as Williams — who was playing the Miami tournament for the 23rd time, while Jones is in it for the first time — gathered her things and walked off the grandstand court with a wave.

And, as is probably the case on some level every time Williams gets eliminated from the singles draw of a tournament these days, the question will hover in the tennis world: “How many more times will we see her play?”

Time will tell. There will be at least one more match in Miami Gardens; Williams is playing doubles in this tournament with Leylah Fernandez. The duo made a run to the U.S. Open quarterfinals last summer.

Carlos Alcaraz, the world's top-ranked men's player, said he hopes the Venus show keeps going for at least a little while longer.

“To be honest for us, the tennis world, someone like such an iconic player, such an iconic athlete, a legend from all the sport still playing, I think it’s great,” Alcaraz said, speaking while the Williams-Jones match was getting underway. “Thanks to her, I think she brought a lot of people to watch tennis, which is great. And I have a huge admiration for her. She’s still playing, still delivering great tennis, performing well.”

Williams, who got a wild-card spot into this field, has been part of the tournament at two different sites and with it having at least a half-dozen different names. She’s reached the Miami final in three different decades, winning titles in 1998, 1999 and 2001 and being the runner-up in 2010.

It’s a home tournament for Williams, which is surely part of the appeal. Her hometown is Palm Beach Gardens, about a 90-minute drive north of Hard Rock Stadium. And she’s still among the partners within the ownership group of the Miami Dolphins, who call the facility home.

For perspective:

— As Williams took the court, Moïse Kouamé of France was finishing off a three-set win over Zachary Svajda of the U.S. in a men’s first-round match. Kouamé, who became the youngest winner of a Masters 1000 match since Rafael Nadal did so in 2003, turned 17 earlier this month — meaning he’s nearly 29 years younger than Williams, who turns 46 in June.

— Only nine other women in the Miami field were born before Williams played her first pro match; her debut was as a 14-year-old in 1994.

“I don’t know how (much) longer we are going to watch Venus. Hopefully a couple more years, but we don’t know,” Alcaraz said. “All we have to do is just enjoy her matches as much as we could and let’s see. But I think it’s great for the sport, for tennis to see.”

___

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis