Luka Doncic entered the NBA record books once again with a monster 33 point, 15 assist triple-double in a signature Mavericks dub.
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The Dallas Mavericks look, for the first time during his NBA career, like a competent defensive team. Their defensive identity yielded them a 12-3 record in January, but with Kristaps missing more time, Luka Doncic had to come into his own.
He’s brought his game up several levels after a severe dip to start the season off. Luka finished the month of January averaging 25.6 points, 10.1 rebounds and 9.5 dimes per game.
If it wasn’t for historic levels of play displayed by Nikola Jokic, Doncic and Devin Booker were solid contenders for Western Conference Player of the Month honors.
Luka put in perhaps his best game of the year against a spirited Sixers team 3rd in the East at the time of tip-off. In doing so, he notched up his 44th triple-double, moving past Denver Nuggets legend Fat Lever for 10th spot on the all-time triple-doubles list.
Luka Doncic, before the age of 23, has a Hall of Famer’s bag of achievements
There comes along a breed of player every once in a while who looks built in a lab for the game. While the physical attributes possessed by Luka Doncic aren’t really all-time, his mental game is absolutely up there.
The likes of Mark Jackson have already called him a top-25, 30 talent in basketball history. And if you took a sneak peek at the playoff scoring charts without a minimum Games Played filter, the Slovenian sensation is right alongside Michael Jordan at 33.4 points per game.
It’s also the nature of how Luka executes his moves in clutch games that sets him apart. He’s already got a signature playoff buzzer-beater to his name, in addition to a wide array of regular season highlights.
His triple-double brought the count of NBA franchises who he’s notched the statistical anomaly against to 23.
