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The season is only three games old for the Dallas Mavericks, but Luka Doncic is already in midseason form.
Doncic is averaging a league-best 39.0 points per game and has posted two triple-doubles as he looks to lead Dallas to its fourth consecutive victory when it hosts the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night.
The Mavericks are 3-0 for the first time since the 2004-05 campaign when they won their first four games. Dallas is one of three remaining unbeaten teams.
“It’s a great start,” Doncic said after Monday’s 125-110 road win over the Memphis Grizzlies. “We know we have a lot of games left, but it’s always nice to have a great start.”
Doncic has spurred the fast start with scoring outings of 33, 49 and 35 points. He has been in double digits in rebounds in all three games and reached double figures for assists twice.
He also is a stellar 18-for-37 from 3-point range (48.6 percent) with a high of nine during last Friday night’s 49-point splurge in a 125-120 home victory over the Brooklyn Nets.
On Monday, he recorded his 58th career triple-double with 35 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists against the Grizzlies.
“Luka’s always going to do that,” Dallas guard Tim Hardaway Jr. said. “Whether it’s a 25-point triple-double, a 30-point triple-double, or 50. It doesn’t matter. He’s going to get those numbers, regardless. It’s our job to do our part and try our best to make his job and (Kyrie Irving’s) job a little easier.”
Irving (left foot sprain) was a late scratch in Memphis and his availability for Wednesday has yet to be firmed up. He averaged 19.5 points and 6.0 assists over the first two games.
The Bulls have handled the Mavericks by prevailing in six of the past seven meetings. Chicago won both of last season’s games by three and 29 points, respectively.
The Bulls have split their first four games this season and are 1-1 on a three-game road trip after knocking off the Indiana Pacers 112-105 on Monday.
Chicago’s standout trio of Nikola Vucevic (24 points, 17 rebounds), Zach LaVine (23 points) and DeMar DeRozan (20) were a combined 22 of 55 (40 percent) from the field.
“We definitely haven’t played our best basketball, and to be at .500 is much better than if we were like 1-3 or 0-4,” Vucevic said afterward. “Better to learn from winning than losses. It’s kind of positive we’re at .500 and haven’t played that well. So we know there is a lot of room for improvement. Are we going to improve and are we going to get there? That’s the question.”
LaVine, who broke his own franchise single-season record with 204 treys last season, is just 10 of 34 (29.4 percent) from behind the arc with seven of the makes coming in one game against the Detroit Pistons.
Overall, Chicago is trying to get the offense in gear. The game against the Pacers represented the Bulls’ highest-scoring output of the young season.
“If we can get everyone involved and play downhill, there’s plenty to go around for everybody,” Chicago coach Billy Donovan said. “I didn’t feel like the ball stuck. But even if there weren’t a lot of passes (19 assists on 40 field goals), it was decisive. The moment we start holding the ball and start sizing guys up, the floor shrinks. Everybody is in help (defense) and it’s really hard to play like that.”
–Field Level Media
