Just one night after missing Friday's contest to witness the birth of his first child, Gabriela, Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic rode the good vibes to one of the best statistical performances in NBA history. Doncic tallied 36 points, 18 assists and 15 rebounds against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night, joining Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson as the only players to ever put up those totals in a game.
And it's not like Doncic was getting meaningless buckets in a blowout, either. He helped rally the Mavericks to an insane 30-0 run, the longest in franchise history, to go from down 24 points to up six midway through the fourth quarter. Unfortunately for Dallas, they ended up losing the game, 126-120.
Doncic also became the first player in NBA history to put up at least 35 points, 15 rebounds, 15 assists, two blocks, two steals and five 3-pointers in a game. And he did it with his newborn daughter's name written on his sneakers.
🩷🩷🩷@luka7doncic // #MFFL pic.twitter.com/08FOWuqOWE
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) December 3, 2023
The momentum of the Mavericks' 30-0 run came to a screeching halt, going scoreless in the final two minutes as the Thunder aggressively trapped Doncic to get the ball out of his hands. The result was two Doncic turnovers and five combined missed shots by A.J. Lawson, Seth Curry and Derrick Jones Jr. as OKC went on a 10-0 run to close out the game.
Doncic is in the midst of an MVP-caliber season with averages of 31 points, eight rebounds and eight assists on 39% 3-point shooting. The Mavericks fell to 11-8 with the loss, and have gone 4-6 over their last 10 games.
