What a night for Luka Doncic on his 25th birthday! 💫 30 PTS 💫 11 REB 💫 16 AST His 39th 30-point triple-double.... now the 3rd-most such games in NBA history 👏
Luka Doncic records a monster triple-double on his birthday as Dallas Mavericks defeat Toronto Raptors
NBAThursday, 29 February 2024 at 08:29
The Dallas Mavericks suffered a heartbreaking defeat in
their previous match to the Cleveland Cavaliers, so they came out on a mission
in this game. Luka Doncic absolutely shined as he led his team to a 136-125 victory
over the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena.
Luka is having himself an MVP caliber season. He’s averaging
34.5 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 9.6 assists while leading the Mavs to a playoff
spot in the tough Western Conference. The 5-time All-Star is putting up the 2nd
most points in the NBA only behind Joel Embiid (who is injured for the
foreseeable future) while also dishing out the 3rd most assists in the
league.
Doncic turned 25 today, and on this special day he had a remarkable
performance, finishing with 30 points, 11 rebounds, and 16 assists. Kyrie
Irving also had a great game, as he scored 29 points on 55% shooting. PJ
Washington dropped 23 points with 3 blocks while Tim Hardaway Jr. contributed 16
points off the bench. Dereck Lively started and swatted 5 shots in his 23
minutes.
For the Raptors, Immanuel Quickley had a team high 28 points
to go along with 9 assists and 5 made threes. RJ Barrett scored 26 points while
hitting 4 triples, and Scottie Barnes finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds, and
7 assists. Jakob Poeltl had an all-around performance as he recorded 16 points,
7 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals, and 2 blocks.
This win improves the Mavs to 34-25, which makes them 8th in
the Western Conference and 0.5 games back from the 6th seed. After a
devastating loss in their previous game, Dallas bounced back in a big way to
build up some momentum for their next matchups. They are 8-2 over their last 10
games and will look to get a statement victory on Friday when they face off
against the Boston Celtics.
Meanwhile, this loss drops the Raptors to 22-37, which makes
them 12th in the Eastern Conference and 4.5 games out of the play-in race. The season
is slowly starting to slip away from Toronto and it’s looking like they may
want to just develop the chemistry of their young core and build to it in the
offseason. Over their last 10 games, the Canadian team is 5-5 and their next
matchup will be on Friday against the Golden State Warriors.
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