Mavericks All-Star defender Luka Doncic is looking for his groove with another double

Five days after ending Chicago’s nine-game winning streak in the NBA, the Dallas Mavericks halted the Memphis Grizzlies’ 11-game streak with a 112-85 comeback win at the FedEx Forum.

Luka Doncic scored his 40th career double, ending the game with 27 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.

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Doncic became the 11th player in NBA history to hit 40 doubles three times in his career. For reference, there have been 80 doubles in the history of the Mavericks – Doncic is responsible for half of them.

The Slovenian achieved this feat in just the 226th game of his career, the second-few second to hit 40 triple triples in NBA history (Oscar Robertson, 92 games).

Doncic has been inconsistent at the start of this season and his overall numbers are down from last season. Many people began to question whether his condition – or lack of it – was causing the problem.

But Doncic missed some time due to an ankle injury, and he also took some time to comply with the league’s health and safety regulations. He relapsed to an ankle injury in the loss to the Pacers and is scheduled to return on December 23, but is sidelined for another five games after entering the protocols on December 22.

Doncic has missed 15 games for Dallas this season and the Mavericks are 6-9 in those games, showing just how important he is to this squad.

However, since breaking out of the protocol on January 1, Doncic has been playing at an incredibly high level. In the past five games, he’s averaging triples with 23.4 points, 10.0 rebounds and 10.2 assists.

The Mavericks are leading 4-1 in those games and have won 8 of the last 10, which is really a step up for them. As a result, they rose to fifth on the Western Conference leaderboard at 23-19, though, they’re still five games behind the Utah Jazz in fourth.

Team Mav hosts the Orlando Magic at the American Airlines Arena on Saturday.