Mavericks: Unstoppable Luka Doncic joins unreal Russell Westbrook club with outburst vs. Heat

Luka Doncic has been on a tear as of late, and the Mavericks have needed every bit of his contributions.

Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks are hanging on for dear life in the heated Western Conference playoff race, but their uptick in form following the trade deadline appears to have vanished completely. They entered their Thursday night contest against the Miami Heat having lost three in a row, suffering blowout losses to the Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers while letting one slip away from them in a close loss to the shorthanded Philadelphia 76ers.

But one common denominator for the Mavericks, through the good and the bad, is the stellar play of Doncic. On Thursday night, the Slovenian superstar was at his stat-sheet stuffing ways yet again, tallying his fifth consecutive triple double after dropping 35 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists in a 114-108 win over the Heat.

And in so doing, Luka Doncic finds himself in even greater rarefied air. The Mavericks star, in his thorough demolition of the Heat defense, became just the second player in NBA history to record five consecutive 30-point triple doubles, joining Russell Westbrook as the only players to do so. Westbrook, the NBA's all-time leader in triple doubles, recorded this feat back in his MVP season seven years ago.

Doncic has simply been on a tear, and it could not have come at a better time for the Mavericks. The 25-year old superstar now has 15 triple doubles on the season, which has him ranked third in the NBA behind Domantas Sabonis and Nikola Jokic, and he has flexed his greatness by rising to the occasion of shouldering the heavy offensive burden his team has imposed upon him.

On the season, Luka Doncic is averaging 34.6 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 9.8 assists; much like Russell Westbrook during the 2016-17 season, there is no better one-man show in the NBA than the Mavericks star, and it's hard to fathom just how much worse their teams would be if it weren't for them.

However, Doncic has been receiving plenty of criticism for hogging the ball similar to Westbrook. But the Mavericks roster consists of mostly play finishers, not creators (with the notable exception of Kyrie Irving of course). And Doncic's barrage of 30-point triple doubles is just his way of saying that the Mavericks were right to trust him with the burden of carrying the team.