Lthe season of the Dallas Mavericks will be as far as Luka Doncic goes. The Slovenian is the one who leads and justifies the Texan team, and he is also the one who freed them from a bad streak. With an uncontested victory (115-90) against the Miami Heat in which the ’77’ had 34 points, 12 rebounds and 7 assists. His 32nd game of the 2022-23 season with 30 or more points. There is no other player in the NBA with similar data.
The Mavericks went all over the Heat after a recent week in which “help Doncic” were the most repeated words. For the moment and until the management led by Mark Cuban wants to take another step, they are left with an irregular but highly competitive team. Miami was given no choice, and from the first quarter they shot up 12 points (31-19). He closed it with a triple of his own from a few meters ahead of the center of the field.
After the break, Doncic will give his final show to certify the victory. They came away with a 14-3 run, in which Luka punished Tyler Herro in the defensive matchup. I switched Oladipo to being his defender, and he kept getting points for the ability to shoot on jump. The finishing touch was a huge pass to Dwight Powell after receiving a two-on-one defense. magical.
To measure the influence of the Slovenian, you can go to the annotation. He has 32 games with 30 or more points. His immediate chaser is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with 26. Jayson Tatum and Joel Embiid have 25. And 21 Antetokounmpo. Only they come even the least bit close to the Slovenian.
Defense was also added. Doncic, in fact, had recognized that his attack was fine, but defensively it cost them more. That was valued by Jason Kidd, Dallas coach, after knocking down Miami. “They can’t put 150 stitches in you every night. Even if you have Luka, LeBron or Kareem. You can’t not take the defense personally,” he said.
