Luka Doncic exceeded his lofty expectations last season with a breakout Rookie of the Year campaign that announced a new era of Dallas Mavericks basketball.
Somehow he’s found an even higher gear in his second season that has the 20-year-old looking like a prime MVP candidate as he lights basketball courts and box scores on fire.
Doncic nearly outscores Warriors in 1st half
The Golden State Warriors got a heavy dose of Doncic in the first half of their Wednesday matchup that saw the Slovenian point guard set an NBA season high for a half with 33 points as the Mavericks jumped out to a 74-38 lead.
Dallas went on to a 142-94 victory as Doncic sat for much of the second half.
Doncic hit 10-of-11 shots from the field in the first half, including 6-of-7 3-point attempts as he fell five points short of matching the Warriors point total on his own. He also added five rebounds and six assists.
He didn’t do much damage in the second half, but that’s only because he didn’t have to. He left the game late in the third quarter with the Mavericks leading, 97-52.
Another triple-double
He finished the game with 35 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds to secure his seventh triple-double in 14 games.
He did it all in 26 minutes.
Doncic entered Wednesday’s matchup averaging 29.5 points, 10.7 rebounds and 9.3 assists per game.
On Monday, he became the second-youngest player in NBA history after LeBron James to record a 40-point triple-double with 42 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds. Now he has a triple-double in half of the games he’s played this season.
And again. He’s only 20 years old.