Luka Doncic triple double leads Mavs over Rockets

Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks rolled past the Houston Rockets, 129-114, Friday morning at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.

The case for Doncic as the best player in the NBA right now is getting louder and louder. After a record breaking 60-point, 21-rebound, 10-assist performance that led to a thrilling comeback against the Knicks, he followed that up with another triple double.

This time he didn’t even finish the game. He seems to be in a zone in this busy stretch. Doncic entered this match up with the Rockets mathematically tied with Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia Sixers as the NBA’s top scorers, averaging 33.6 points a game.

He improved on that number with 35 points and added 13 assists with 12 rebounds to complete his triple double. He had some help from Christian Wood who had 21 points and four blocks.

Dwight Powell came off the bench shooting 8 for 8, contributing 19 points. Asked about the five game winning streak that the Mavericks was on, he said, “Basically it’s staying together,”. 

The Mavericks have won 7 out of 10 games and are three games away from the top spot in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference.

The Rockets were led by the number two pick in the 2021 draft, Jalen Green, with 23 points.

The game wasn’t even close. The home team won every quarter except the fourth where the bench ended up closing the game, which at this point was already out of reach.

Mavs shot the lights out with 51 percent field goal shooting. They also scored 25 fast break points off turnovers. Houston had no fast break points.

The Dallas Mavericks’ next game is at San Antonio on New Year’s day, 8 a.m. Manila time.