Dazzling Doncic drops triple double
Luka Doncic catches fire, dropping 45 points with six three pointers, to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 143-133 win over the Golden State Warriors in the NBA regular season.
EZRA SHAW/aGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Daily TribuneLuka Doncic catches fire, dropping 45 points with six three pointers, to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 143-133 win over the Golden State Warriors in the NBA regular season.
EZRA SHAW/aGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Luka Doncic reeled off a triple-double with 45 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds to spark the Dallas Mavericks over Golden State, 143-133, in a record-shattering National Basketball Association (NBA) matchup on Sunday.
The Mavericks and Warriors combined for an NBA single-game record of 48 made three-pointers, breaking the old mark by four, with Golden State sinking 27-of-54 shots from beyond the arc and Dallas hitting 21-of-41 three-point attempts.
“No team could miss. They had 18 threes at half-time and we were still up, which is insane,” Doncic said.
“Felt like nobody could miss. It was a fun game. Lot of makes. But it was a physical game too.”
Doncic made 16-of-23 shots from the floor, including 6-of-11 three-pointers, and the 25-year-old Slovenian guard added three steals and two blocked shots to his ninth career 40-point triple-double.
“The guy never ceases to amaze me,” teammate Klay Thompson said.
“He never rushes, plays at his own pace. Had 45 points easy as pie he made it look like.”
It was the three-point sharpshooting that made the contest historic, crushing the old mark for combined three-pointers in an NBA game of 44 set in February 2023 by Sacramento and the Los Angeles Clippers, and matched two nights ago by Phoenix and Utah.
The Mavericks, who won for the eighth time in nine starts, and Warriors combined for a one-half NBA record of 30 three-pointers in the first half, which ended with Dallas ahead, 81-74.
Dallas made 12-of-25 from three-point range in the first half while the Warriors matched another NBA record with 18 three-pointers in a half, coming on 32 shots.
That set the stage for ex-Warrior Thompson to sink the record-breaking 45th combined three-pointer with 4:32 remaining in the fourth quarter off an assist from Doncic.
“I’ve had a great history of shooting the ball well here so I try to tap into that every time I come back,” Thompson said.
Thompson had a season-high 29 points, 12 in the last quarter, and sank 9-of-14 shots from the floor and 7-of-11 from three-point range against a club with which he won four NBA titles.