Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic on Tuesday rewrote the NBA record book with a stunning 60-point triple-double, carrying the Mavericks to a wild 126-121 overtime victory over the New York Knicks.
Doncic added 21 rebounds and 10 assists, becoming the first player in NBA history with a triple-double featuring at least 60 points and 20 rebounds.
He is just the second player, after James Harden, to score 60 points in a triple-double, with Harden scoring 60 points with 10 rebounds and 11 assists in a game for Houston in 2018.
Photo: AP
“He’s special,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said of Slovenian star Doncic, who also had two steals and a blocked shot in the contest.
“For a player to do something that’s never been done before — it’s hard to do,” Kidd said. “There’s been some great players before him.”
Doncic posted his career-high in rebounds and notched his seventh triple-double of the season to help Dallas rally for the win.
The Knicks, led by 33 points from Quentin Grimes, were up by nine with 33.9 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, but Dallas outscored them 12-3 to close the period.
Doncic tied it up with one second remaining, coming up with the rebound of his own intentionally missed free throw and rising through a crowd of players to drain a game-tying jump shot.
“I think it was just kind of lucky,” the 23-year-old said. “I just threw it up.”
Doncic scored seven of the Mavericks’ 11 points in overtime as they sealed the win, and departed the court to a massive ovation from the Dallas crowd.
“I’m tired as hell,” Doncic said as he was corralled for an on-court television interview. “I need a recovery beer.”
Plenty of peers noticed Doncic’s feat, including former European sidekick Kristaps Porzingis, traded to the Washington Wizards last season to break up the pairing that never really clicked as planned.
Porzingis referenced their shared playing roots in Spain, writing in a post on Twitter in Spanish that translated to “this guy is not normal.”
The 2.21m Latvian skipped that extraneous rebound on a night when he could celebrate a double-double of his own with 24 points and 10 rebounds, as the Wizards beat the Philadelphia 76ers 116-111.
Doncic broke Dirk Nowitzki’s franchise record of 53 points from 2004 two days after the Mavericks unveiled a statue of the retired German star outside the arena.
Nowitzki is the highest-scoring foreign-born player in NBA history (sixth overall). The 23-year-old All-Star could hold that title some day.
“It’ll be another statue in Dallas,” Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett wrote on Twitter.
Elsewhere, the Boston Celtics routed the Houston Rockets 126-102 and the Los Angeles Lakers snapped a four-game skid with a convincing 129-110 victory over the Magic in Orlando.
The Phoenix Suns sprung a surprise against the Memphis Grizzlies, beating them 125-108, while the Denver Nuggets, led by Michael Porter’s 30 points, rallied from a 20-point deficit in the second quarter to beat the Sacramento Kings 113-106.
The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the San Antonio Spurs 130-114, the Los Angeles Clippers topped the Toronto Raptors 124-113 and the Indiana Pacers bested the Atlanta Hawks 129-114.
Additional reporting by AP
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