Dallas star Luka Doncic grabbed a slice of NBA history on Saturday, becoming the first player to post six straight 30-point triple-doubles to help the Mavericks beat the Detroit Pistons 142-124.
Doncic scored 39 points with 10 rebounds and 10 assists, eclipsing Russell Westbrook’s mark of five straight 30-point triple-doubles set in the 2016-17 season.
The Slovenian star extended his own NBA record with a fifth straight triple-double featuring 35 or more points. He added three steals and a pair of blocked shots for good measure.
“That just shows where he’s playing at right now,” said Mavericks coach Jason Kidd — who has called Doncic’s run of form “as rare as Picasso.”
“(It’s) the level that he’s at, to be able to score and also to be able to find his teammates and then, lastly, being able to rebound the ball for us to help us on the defensive end,” Kidd said.
Doncic scored 26 points in a back-and-forth first half. That included 21 in the second quarter, when Doncic appeared to be galvanized by chants of “Luka Sucks” from Pistons fans.
“Well, we know he doesn’t suck,” Kidd said. “I think we know he enjoys when people talk to him. If that’s what sparked him, we would like for that to happen a lot more.”
Kyrie Irving added 21 points for Dallas, who pushed their lead to 16 points in the third quarter and opened the fourth on a 7-0 scoring run.
Cade Cunningham scored 33 points with 10 assists and nine rebounds for the Pistons.
But it was another night of frustration for Detroit and it boiled over in the fourth when Jalen Duren was ejected for a hard shove of P.J. Washington — who had nudged Duren aside to help up teammate Daniel Gafford after Duren had fouled him under the basket.
In other early games, the Los Angeles Clippers pushed their winning streak to three games with a 112-102 home victory over the Chicago Bulls.
Paul George scored 22 points, Kawhi Leonard added 19 and James Harden delivered a triple-double of 14 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for Los Angeles, who trailed by as many as 14 in the third quarter and were down by two entering the fourth.
They opened the final period on an 11-0 run and held on for the win.
