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Luka Dončić scored 45 points with 15 rebounds, six assists, five steals and eight three-pointers in the Lakers’ 131-125 win over Toronto, becoming the first player to reach those thresholds in one game, according to NBA.com. Boston beat Orlando for its fifth consecutive win, while Golden State defeated the Clippers for its fourth straight behind rookie Yaxel Lendeborg’s 37 points.
Luka Dončić posted 45 points, 15 rebounds, six assists, five steals and eight three-pointers as the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Toronto Raptors 131-125 on Sunday, a combination NBA.com reported had not previously been recorded in league history. The same night, Boston extended its winning streak to five games with a 108-97 victory over Orlando, while Golden State beat the Clippers 124-112 for its fourth straight win, powered by rookie Yaxel Lendeborg’s career-high 37 points.
Dončić’s performance followed a 52-point game the previous week, according to NBA.com. Against Toronto, he made eight three-pointers and helped the Lakers improve to 5-2. Scottie Barnes led the Raptors with 29 points, six rebounds and five assists. NBA.com also reported Dončić was averaging 37.7 points per game at the time of its roundup, leading the league, with 5.8 made threes per game at a 43.2% clip. Those figures describe his season through the games covered in the report.
Boston’s win over Orlando extended a run that began after the Celtics lost their season opener to Detroit, when they surrendered a 22-point lead. Jayson Tatum scored 32 points and had seven assists, including two baskets late in the fourth quarter when Boston’s lead was four. Paul George added 17 points and eight assists, and Boston closed on an 11-4 run. The Celtics improved to 5-1; Orlando fell to the defeat in the game described by the report.
Golden State won without Stephen Curry, who was out with a back issue, NBA.com said. Lendeborg, a rookie, supplied 37 points, six three-pointers, four rebounds and six assists. The Warriors moved to four consecutive wins. In another game, Brooklyn beat a shorthanded Indiana team 98-90 for its first win of the season, with Michael Porter Jr. scoring a team-high 23 points.
Three Winning Runs, One Record Night
The results put attention on three different developments early in the season: Dončić’s extraordinary scoring and all-around production, Boston’s recovery from its opening loss, and a Warriors team winning while Curry was unavailable. The Lakers’ win also mattered in the standings, lifting them to 5-2, while the Celtics’ 5-1 start placed them a half-game behind Philadelphia for first in the East at the time of the report.
Lendeborg’s outing gave Golden State a significant contribution from a rookie in a game without its leading star. NBA.com noted that he became the third Warriors rookie to score at least 150 points through his first seven career games, after Rick Barry and Wilt Chamberlain. That is an early-career milestone, not a conclusion about how his season will develop.
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The Season’s Early Statistical Pace
The NBA.com roundup was published as teams entered Week 3, with the season still in its opening stretch. Its historical comparisons reflect that limited sample. The report said Dončić had 226 points through his first six games, making him the third player since 1960 to reach at least 225 points over that span, alongside Michael Jordan in 1986 and Wilt Chamberlain, who did so twice.
Boston also had an early individual milestone: Tatum was averaging 28.3 points and 7.7 assists through six games, according to NBA.com. The report said he joined Larry Bird and John Havlicek as the only Celtics to average at least 28 points and seven assists through a team’s first six games of a season. These figures are snapshots from the report, not full-season outcomes.
The roundup also noted that Memphis was 6-0 and the league’s only unbeaten team at the time. The Grizzlies were due to face New Orleans on Monday with a chance to reach 7-0. That upcoming game was separate from Sunday’s results and remained a future event when NBA.com published its account.
“It feels like a supernova, but it also feels normal.”
— Lakers coach JJ Redick, as quoted by NBA.com
Early Records, Limited Sample
The historical distinctions and season averages in the report apply to the games played so far; they do not establish how the players or teams will finish the season. The supplied report does not provide further detail on the severity of Curry’s back issue, a timetable for his return, or whether he would miss additional games. It also gives no fuller medical or availability update for other players.
NBA.com described Indiana as shorthanded but did not specify in the supplied material which players were unavailable or why. The roundup also lists several standings and performance figures without a complete game-by-game record in the provided excerpt, so those should be understood as the publication’s snapshot rather than independently expanded beyond its stated figures.
Next Games Will Test the Streaks
The Lakers were scheduled to host Milwaukee on Monday, seeking a second win in two days, according to the roundup. Memphis was set to face New Orleans that night with a chance to record its first 7-0 start, while Boston and Golden State would aim to keep their winning runs going in their next games. The supplied material does not give the Celtics’ or Warriors’ next opponents or tipoff times.
NBA.com said all 30 teams were scheduled to play Monday before the league paused games Tuesday for Election Day. That schedule was the next immediate league-wide marker; results from those upcoming games were not yet available in the report.
Key Questions
What made Luka Dončić’s game historic?
NBA.com said Dončić became the first player in NBA history to record at least 45 points, 15 rebounds, five assists, five steals and five three-pointers in one game. He finished with 45 points, 15 rebounds, six assists, five steals and eight threes against Toronto.
How many games have the Celtics and Warriors won in a row?
Boston had won five consecutive games after beating Orlando 108-97. Golden State had won four straight after its 124-112 victory over the Clippers.
Who is Yaxel Lendeborg?
Lendeborg is a Golden State rookie. He scored a career-high 37 points against the Clippers, adding six three-pointers, four rebounds and six assists while Stephen Curry was out with a back issue.
Was Curry expected to return in the next game?
The report said Curry missed the Clippers game with a back issue but did not provide a return timetable or further details about the injury. His availability for the next game was not established in the supplied material.
Source: nba.com
