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After the relegation: "Doncic and Dallas are closer to the championship than they think" - Walla! sport

2020-08-31T06:28:32.575Z


After recording a miraculous first playoff, the NBA predicts Luca and the Mavericks have a rosy future. Carlisle expects him to "come back from vacation like Jordan and Magic," Kwai praises, and only Marcus Morris stings: he cries


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After relegation: "Doncic and Dallas are closer to the championship than they think"

After recording a miraculous first playoff, the NBA predicts Luca and the Mavericks have a rosy future. Carlisle expects him to "come back from vacation like Jordan and Magic," Kwai praises, and only Marcus Morris stings: he cries

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  • Luka Doncic
  • Dallas Mavericks

Walla! sport

Monday, 31 August 2020, 09:04

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Luka Doncic celebrates victory basket against Clippers (from the official website of the Dallas Mavericks)

Luka Doncic's first playoff is over, but NBA fans are left with a taste for more and high expectations for the years to come. The Slovenian prodigy once again surpassed himself by scoring 39 points, adding 9 assists and 9 rebounds, but did not prevent Dallas from losing 111: 97 to the Clippers who set up 4: 2 in the series. Luca's baptism of fire in the playoffs was quite challenging: Kristaps Forzingis, who is supposed to be the second star next to him, was absent from most of the games due to injury, and also himself carried an injury to his left ankle.

The Clippers did everything to get him out of balance: replaced guards, entrusted him with the stars Kwai Leonard and Paul George, sent him double guards, and maybe even tried to intentionally injure him. That did not stop Doncic from finishing the series with averages of 31 points, 9.8 rebounds and 8.7 assists, and again drawing comparisons to the greatest of them all.

"He's one of the toughest players I've come across in the league, and I've been in that league for more than 35 years," praised Dallas coach Rick Carlisle. "He's a huge talent and only gets better every day. Last season he was the rookie of the season, and this season he's a worthy candidate for the title of improving player. I don't think that's happened in NBA history before. I believe he's going to get even better next year, with "New weapons - like Magic and Jordan, like all the great players who brought something new every summer."

More on Walla! NEWS

The Clippers ended Doncic's season, Marie forced game 7 against Utah

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Carlisle admits this coming summer could be particularly challenging for the Mavericks and for the league as a whole, but is confident it will not interfere with his young star's progress. "It's going to be a different summer. There's going to be a drop in tension now, and it's still unclear when the league will return. But Luca has tremendous enthusiasm - towards the game, towards his teammates, towards victories. It was hard to put him off the bench today, "The latter, when it was already clear that it would end in a loss. But we are lucky to have him, and now our task is to make sure that everyone is healthy and continues to improve, and that we surround him with the right players for him."

Luca's short playoffs included some huge displays and also a highlight that will probably be remembered for years to come - the three-game winning streak in Game 4 overtime, playing with an injured ankle. If there was any doubt about Luca's potential to take over the NBA in the years to come, he's completely gone now.

"Luca looks like a player who will win an MVP several times throughout his career. It is impossible not to get excited about him," one of the NBA executives told ESPN anonymously this morning. "When the discussion of 'who is the first player in the league around whom you would build a team' begins, it is impossible to select any player other than Doncic."

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As Rick Carlisle hinted, the Mavericks will try to add more players to complete Doncic, hoping he can take another step forward in the playoffs. According to ESPN, the Mavericks want to sign at least two "experienced and tough" inside players, in addition to hoping for a full recovery of Kristaps Forzingis from the plethora of injuries he has suffered in the past two years. Either way, already in the regular season they have put up historic offensive numbers and displayed impressive efficiency on one side of the pitch. The upgrade, it seems, will have to come on the defensive side.

"They're probably closer to the championship than they think, mostly thanks to Luca," another league manager told ESPN anonymously. "Doncic looks like a once-in-a-lifetime talent on the ball, like a player of the type capable of carrying an entire club on his back."

Kwai Leonard also sees Doncic as a special talent. After tonight's game, the Clippers star said that "he is a great player. He fights every minute on the floor, and never gives up. He led his team in every game and did a wonderful job."

The one who fared a little less for Luca at the end was Marcus Morris, who was sent off tonight after a brutal offense on the Slovenian prodigy. It was a direct continuation of the tension between the two, which began in Game 5 when Morris was documented trying to intentionally injure Donchich on the left ankle. Tonight the tension peaked when Morris made a foul on Doncic on the way to the basket, and was sent off directly.

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At the end, Doncic said, "I really hope he did not try to injure me on purpose in the previous game, but after the offense he did today, you already know what I think. I do not want to deal with players like that."

Morris later responded and wrote on Instagram in response to Luca's quote: "Don't cry, the Clippers have qualified in six games."

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Source: walla

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