By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Luka Doncic put on yet another triple-double performance, one for history books, as the Dallas Mavericks beat the Sacramento Kings 114 – 110 in overtime to get their first win of the NBA restart.
“Trible-double” has probably become Doncic’s middle name by now so that achievement alone isn’t surprising for his standards. The enormity of the numbers that went with it though, in combination with his age is, literally, one of a kind.
In arguably one of the top displays of his career so far, Doncic scored 34 points, grabbed a career-high 20 rebounds and dished out 12 assists in 44 minutes. At 21 years of age, the Slovenian point forward added another feat in his already big pile of records, by becoming the youngest player with a 30-20-10 game in the history of the NBA, per ESPN Stats & Info.
This was Doncic’s 25th career triple-double (including one he had in his last season with Real Madrid) and 11th 30-point triple-double this season. That’s more than twice the triple-doubles second-placed Lebron James has (5) on the related list.
The only other player who has recorded a triple-double with 30+ points and 20+ rebounds this season is Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic. The Serbian big man registered those numbers back in February.
While the unique triple-double was in the spotlight, Doncic enjoyed talking about his defense after the game. “Since we’ve been here, I’ve been working on my defense. Getting better,” Doncic said in a zoom call.
With the Mavericks being close to “sealing” the seventh seed in the Western Conference, Doncic looks at improvements that can be made in the remainder of the regular season and ahead of his first appearance in the NBA playoffs. “Chemistry between us. Learning to play with each other. Being out for four months, obviously, it wasn’t our best two games. We got to be tough on defense. That’s our goal, from defense to offense.”
The story was edited to include quotes from coaches/players.
Photo: Getty Images