Within the past week Luka Doncic had one of the greatest performances in league history against the Atlanta Hawks, dropping 73 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists on over 75% shooting from the field. The craziest part may have been the 65 points through three quarters, until the Hawks decided to constantly double and triple team him in the fourth. But it wasn’t just the one game for Luka, he’s having one of the most dominant stretches I’ve ever seen. Over the last 5 games he’s averaged 43 points, 12 assists, and 11 rebounds per game on 51% shooting from the field. He’s been completely unguardable, and so good offensively people have started complaining about scoring in the league. Many have claimed defense no longer exists. But the people blaming that for Luka’s performance haven’t been watching. He’s been extremely efficient and hitting super tough shots, including baseline fades out of bounds, and one’s through contact, and heavily contested step back threes. There’s nothing the defenders can do, and if they leave their assignment to double him, he’ll find the open man almost every single time. He’s a heliocentric player, but don’t get that confused with being selfish. In their last game, the Mavs had four players score over twenty points while shooting over 50% from the field. It was the first time in over ten years that the Mavs had done it, and that’s largely thanks to Luka’s playmaking and gravity on the offensive end. He did put up his 73 on a bad defensive team in the Hawks, but it's hard to argue with 45-9-15 against a top-5 defense in the Magic. He’s one of the best offensive players to ever grace a floor, and it almost looks effortless to him on the court. It doesn’t even matter if you throw all-defense level guys like Jalen Suggs and Jonathan Isaac on him right now, they don’t stand a chance, no one does. In a shocking turn of events, he’s also seemed to level up as a defender this season, ranking 4th among all guards in defensive rating, and allowing just 34% from the field in one-on-one defensive isolations. The Mavs have gone just 2-3 over this 5 game stretch, but Kyrie continues to be out with an injury, and the team is less talented overall than a lot of teams they go against. But Luka makes them competitive with anyone, and is dominating the game on a night to night basis. He’s completely unstoppable right now.
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#dallasmavericks #lukadoncic #slovenia
