DALLAS -- In his third season as the Mavericks' superstar, Luka Doncic is on pace for personal bests in several statistical categories, but there's one Dallas hopes he will avoid:
Too many technical fouls.
The NBA punishes a player or coach who commits 16 technicals during a single regular season with an automatic one-game suspension.
Doncic, who has played in 46 games this season, received his 12th in Thursday night's win over the Bucks. That's an average of one technical foul every 3.83 games.
At that rate, he'd draw his suspension-triggering 16th technical foul in the next 16 games. The Mavericks have 21 remaining in the regular season before the count starts over in the postseason.
Expect Doncic to be aware of his decorum around officials over the next five weeks -- almost as much as he will be focused on trying to propel the seventh-place Mavericks into a top-six playoff seed in the Western Conference.
"Yeah, he's aware, and my level of concern is there," Coach Rick Carlisle said. "He's an emotional competitor. It all comes from the right place, and he's smart. He knows where the count is. If he's going to get his 16th, he'll get it in a situation where, you know, it's time for a night of rest anyway. I'm not really that worried about it."
Doncic's on-court temper and complaining to officials has been on display throughout his NBA career.
After he drew two technicals in a three-game stretch in December 2019, he acknowledged his passion for the game could lead to heated moments in challenging calls or, more often, what he has perceived as missed fouls.
The Mavericks have also supported their star's reactions, especially when opponents resort to physical, hacking defense against Doncic, sometimes the only way to stop his power and control when he gets into the lane.
"My thing is, I'm passionate for the game," Doncic said. "I want to win, and sometimes I get out of control just because I want to win the whole time. I'm competitive. You can ask my family. Even if it's not basketball, it's anything."
Technical fouls, often for unsportsmanlike conduct on the court or from the benches, are discretionary.
At times, Doncic has drawn whistles for what appeared to be minor offenses.
In the Mavericks' April 2 win over the Knicks, for example, officials docked Doncic with his 11th technical of the season for screaming "and-one" after making a layup in the fourth quarter, a reaction not uncommon for players who score in traffic.
Doncic's technical Thursday came just after the Mavericks called a timeout with 48.9 seconds left in the third quarter, Carlisle's attempt to halt the Bucks' momentum in what would become a 12-0 run.
Before huddling at the bench, Doncic had a frustrated response to the Bucks tying the game at 80-80 less than one minute after Dallas led by eight. In the 30 seconds prior, Doncic had committed an offensive foul and a turnover on consecutive possessions.
"The way that we were able to recover from the end of the third quarter was by far the most impressive thing in this game," Carlisle said.
Doncic has compiled the second-most technical fouls in the NBA this season, one behind 76ers center Dwight Howard's 13. He leads all players with six technicals in the last four weeks.
Doncic drew 13 technicals in 67 games, including the playoffs, last year and five in 72 games as a rookie.
A couple of factors work in Doncic's favor of avoiding a suspension.
Each team is playing just 72 regular-season games in this pandemic-riddled season, rather than the traditional 82. That leaves less time for Doncic to surpass the threshold, or to risk a suspension for every two regular-season technical fouls that follow.
And his teammates are often quick to help him regain composure.
When Doncic came to the bench after his technical Thursday, Josh Richardson and Dorian Finney-Smith knew what to do.
First: "Let him get it out," Richardson said.
Then, they gave him a few moments of space and a quick glance, eyebrows raised, before telling him, "OK, it's over, so moving forward now."
"And he's like, 'Yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine,' " Richardson said. "And then he goes out there and does Luka stuff."