WASHINGTON – In now his seventh NBA season, Luka Dončić has become synonymous with triple-doubles.
The Dallas Mavericks’ point guard added another triple-double to his notch Thursday night when he manufactured 21 points, 10 reb
ounds and 10 steals during his team’s 137-101 triumph over the Washington Wizards. The ability by Johnson to put his iron-clad fingerprints on a game is the stuff of which legends are made of.
“When you talk about Luka’s ability to have the handprint that he can have on the game in a sense of passing, rebounding and scoring, he does all three things at a very high level,” coach Jason Kidd said. “Right now he’s shooting the ball extremely well, and when he sees the double-team he understands as the quarterback who’s open and how can he get the ball to them, and he’s done that at a high level.”
This was the first triple-double of the season for Doncic, and the 78th of his career, tying him with Wilt Chamberlain and James Harden for seventh place on the NBA’s all-time list. “Just to be up there with those great names,” Doncic said, “it’s unbelievable for me.”
But it’s not just the triple-double package by Doncic which helped catapult the Mavs to victory over Washington. He also stepped up defensively by grabbing two steals,
“Just his activity, his IQ,” coach Jason Kidd said. “In the first half he got on the floor and got (a steal). It just shows that he’s into it. We joke that he could be on the all-defensive team.
“He has great hands. He understands what other teams are trying to do. So, for him to get those steals he’s again been doing that at a very high level here coming back. It’s something that we need defensively.”
Here are the takeaways from the Mavs’ 36-point win over Wizards.
BOUNCE-BACK GAME FOR IRVING: Legend has it that golf is a game of recovery. The same can be said for Mavs guard Kyrie Irving. After scoring just 10 points on 3-of-14 shots during Tuesday’s victory over the Memphis Grizzlies, Irving quickly recovered and dropped in a game-high 25 points on 10-of-16 shots during the triumph over the Wizards. In getting back to his
old gunslinger ways, Irving poured in 13 of the final 15 points the Mavs tallied in the second quarter.
SOLID TEAM EFFORT: If ever there was a team effort turned in by the Mavs, it was Thursday night. A total of eight Mavs players scored at least 10 points against the Wizards — one shy of the franchise record. Starters Kyrie Irving (25), Luka Doncic (21), Klay Thompson (11) and P. J. Washington (10) got the ball rolling. And their teammates off the bench also pitched in, including Daniel Gafford (16), Quentin Grimes (14), Jaden Hardy (13) and Spencer Dinwiddie (12).
BENCH WENT WILD: In blowout games like what occurred Thursday, the bench often gets to strut their stuff a little bit. That was the case against as the Mavs’ bench outscored the Wizards’ counterparts (64-43), and also doubled them up in rebounds (24-12). The Mavs’ reserves were 22-of-34 from the field for 64.7 percent, and 9-of-14 from beyond the three-point arc for 64.3 percent. By contrast, the Wizards’ bench was 18-of-42 from the field (42.9 percent) and 6-of-18 from downtown (33.3 percent).
X: @DwainPrice
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