DALLAS -- Tears welled in Luka Doncic's eyes and he buried his head in a towel Wednesday night, back in the building he called his NBA home for 6½ seasons before the trade that turned his world upside down.

Returning to play the Mavericks for the first time as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, Doncic was honored by his former franchise with a lengthy tribute video during player introductions. As the jumbotron flashed an amazing array of basketball highlights that made him one of the most beloved figures in Dallas sports history, Doncic struggled to keep it together.

"After that video, I was, like, 'There's no way I'm playing this game,'" Doncic said. "It was so many emotions."

He didn't just play, he dominated, providing a painful reminder for every Mavs fan in attendance of the player the franchise parted with in a deal with the Lakers in February, acquiring Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a future first-round pick.

At the end of the night, when Doncic checked out after tying a season high with 45 points and leading L.A. to a 112-97 win that clinched a playoff berth, it was all smiles from him and his Laker teammates who swarmed him and chanted along with the "Luka! Luka!" cacophony from the crowd.

"Big time, because they all had my back," Doncic said of sharing the moment with his new team. "Everybody had my back, from coaches to players, and we're trying to build something special here. That was really, really, really nice to see."

Lakers coach JJ Redick deadpanned that he would have liked to see a few more points from Doncic, quipping, "I thought he was going to get 50, I was disappointed." But in all sincerity, he said he believed his team took a major step forward together.

"Greg [St. Jean] said to me, 'This is going to be awesome for our group to go through this with him, and for him to go through this with them,'" Redick said of his conversation with one of the assistant coaches on his staff. "Does that mean we're going to win an NBA championship or get to the conference finals? I don't know. But it was an awesome moment for everyone."

Well, not everyone.

Throughout the night, when the Lakers went to the free throw line, loud "Fire Nico!" chants echoed throughout American Airlines Center. Nico Harrison, the Mavs president of basketball operations and general manager responsible for bringing the trade concept to L.A., spent the game standing in a tunnel near midcourt, mostly out of view.

Shortly after Doncic checked out with 1:34 remaining in the fourth and the win in hand, the crowd reprised its "Fire Nico!" chant a couple of more times for good measure.

The day was a spectacle as much as it was a basketball game. Fans gathered at the plaza where Dirk Nowitzki's statue stands outside the arena hours before tip-off, some to celebrate Doncic's return and others to vent their frustration that Doncic had to ever be returning in the first place. There were signs. There were chants. One fan, dressed in a blue Doncic Mavs jersey, Mavs shorts and a pair of Doncic signature Jordan sneakers, spent the afternoon running 77 laps around the arena in his own form of non-violent protest.

Doncic's emotions mirrored the fan base.

"It was a little bit of both, happy and angry," Doncic said of what he felt when he pulled up to the arena in his Apocalypse HellFire Jeep. "But it's nice to see some familiar faces here. ... I really appreciate the fans, the way they reacted to me."

The Mavs placed T-shirts on every seat with "Hvala za vse," printed in gray letters on the front, the Slovenian phrase translating to "Thank you for everything." And the seats were filled with important figures from Doncic's time in Dallas, such as Nowitzki and former Mavs owner Mark Cuban, who was wearing a Davis T-shirt.

It was a quiet night for Davis, playing in just his eighth game with the Mavs after missing time with a left adductor strain. He finished with 13 points on 5-for-13 shooting, 11 rebounds and six assists. Christie scored 11 off the bench against his former team.

After the final buzzer, Doncic made his way around the court, hugging his former teammates as well as Kansas City Chiefs quarterback (and Mavs superfan) Patrick Mahomes, his parents and Davis, too.

"Both of us were caught off [guard], surprised by [the trade]," Davis said. "But that was two months ago. It happened. There's nothing we can do about it now. Just told him, 'Good game.' He played a hell of a game. Just a respect thing."

Doncic scored 14 points on 5-for-9 shooting in the first quarter, helping L.A. keep pace with Dallas while playing on the second night of a back-to-back after losing in Oklahoma City on Wednesday. He had 31 points by halftime and finished the game shooting 16-for-28 from the field (7-of-10 from 3), with eight rebounds, six assists and four steals.

"He got into the rhythm early," Redick said, "and he never really lost that rhythm."

Before the game, Mavs coach Jason Kidd reflected on the trade, referencing another infamous swap between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. "Trades happen, this won't be the last trade," Kidd said. "Some have compared it to Babe Ruth, which is kind of cool."

As clunky as the comparison might have been, considering the "Curse of the Bambino" that lingered in Boston was hardly "cool" for the team that parted with Ruth, members of the Mavs made it a point to be welcoming toward Doncic. Dallas center Dereck Lively II exchanged signed jerseys with Doncic. And big man Daniel Gafford was glad to see the organization recognize Doncic the way it did.

"I saw he was crying for his tribute [video]," Gafford said. "I was just whispering to myself, 'As he should.' ... It was a great night for him, for sure."

LeBron James, who scored 19 of his 27 points in the second half to help stave off a Mavs comeback attempt, marveled at his new teammate's performance, too.

When James was told Doncic said he wasn't sure how he pulled it off to play so well, the Lakers star said: "You can call that an out-of-body experience then, because he was locked in from start to finish."

And now that his return to Dallas was finished and done with, Doncic was asked if he feels like he has found closure after the trade.

"It's a hard question," Doncic said. "For sure, it's a little bit more. Talking about closure, sometimes hard because I spent a lot of time here. Great moments. But it's getting more and more [normal].

"I got to focus on different things now."

ESPN's Tim MacMahon contributed to this report.