Luka Doncic becomes 3rd player to ever post four-straight 30+point triple-doubles

Luka Doncic is currently enjoying a historic season, as he’s averaging 34.6 points, 9.8 assists and 9 rebounds over 54 matches so far. However, as the Mavericks sit in the Western Conference’s 8th spot with a 34-28 mark, the superstar isn’t satisfied with the team’s performances with only 20 games left before the playoffs. 

After losing to the Pacers this Wednesday, the Slovenian produced another milestone record, joining Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook as the only three players who’ve ever achieved four-consecutive 30-point triple-doubles.

After the contest, the point guard wasn’t in the mood to talk about individual statistics, especially as they weren’t able to win the game. “It doesn’t matter,” Luka said. “I just want to win, man. That’s it.”

Luka Doncic this season:

🔸 1st in PTS
🔸 1st in PTS + REB + AST
🔸 1st in 35 point games
🔸 1st in 40 point games
🔸 1st in 30 point triple-doubles
🔸 1st in 40 point triple-doubles pic.twitter.com/Zk4hGxnCdr

— Basketball Forever (@bballforever_) March 7, 2024

Just in these past four matches, he’s averaging 36 points, 12 assists and 11.3 rebounds. Besides Robertson and Westbrook, the only other athletes to achieve 35-11-11 averages over a four-game span are James Harden and LeBron James.

Despite all the personal success, Doncic’s priority remains in trying to improve their poor defensive displays. Ever since the return from the All-Star break, Dallas has exhibited the 30th-ranked defensive rating in the league. “I don’t know, honestly,” he said. “We know we got to fix it.”

His coach doesn’t put any responsibility of their underachieving defense on the Slovenian’s shoulders, as he already does so much for the team offensively. “Are we asking too much? I don’t know if we’re asking,” Jason Kidd said. “This is what he does.”

“He’s one of the best offensive players on the planet, and so this is what he does and so we have to help him on that end and we have to also help him on the defensive end. This isn’t a surprise, he’s been doing this pretty much his whole career,” the trainer insisted. “He’s a walking triple-double. He’s doing everything to help the team win. We all have to pitch in and help him.”

Dallas coach Jason Kidd hints at major team changes after loss against Pacers

As the Mavericks have returned from the All-Star break with the worst defense in the league, everyone expected them to tighten up against Indiana. Nevertheless, Dallas permitted 137 points to a squad that had already scored 133 points against them in their last clash.

“We have to be better. I think just looking at the defensive side, I thought again, 74, 70 (points), it was shootaround,” explained coach Kidd. “And talking about (Pacers center Myles) Turner, I thought we did a good job of taking away Turner in that third quarter. I’ve said this before when we score, we’ll play both sides of the ball and that third quarter, we kind of went cold and they kept playing and that’s a credit to Indiana.”

According to the tactician, they must improve their inability to contain dribble penetration, make more impactful rotations, and close possession more consistently.

“We’ve got to be able to take the 3 away. We gave up way too many corner 3s, tonight. These are things that we’ve worked on. We’ve just got to be able to see it in real-time, and so, these are things that we will be continuing to work on,” the coach expressed.