NBA Finals: Luka Dončić Responds to Criticism With All-Around Performance

While Dončić will never be more than a serviceable defensive player, Game 4 proved he can be that in Dallas's rout of Boston to stave off elimination.

NBA Finals: Luka Dončić Responds to Criticism With All-Around Performance

As the clock ticked toward zero inside American Airlines Center in Dallas on Friday, there was Luka Doncic on the bench, again. On Wednesday, Doncic was in warmups for the final four minutes of Game 3, fouled out, forced to watch a game the Dallas Mavericks clawed their way back into in the fourth quarter slip away. Two days later, Doncic was back in his cushioned seat, this time because the Mavericks didn't need him to close out a 122–84 series-extending Game 4 win over the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals.

It was 29 points for Doncic in this one. And probably a sigh of relief. He has been a piñata for pundits this series, never more so than after Game 3, when Doncic helped lead the Mavericks back from a 21-point fourth-quarter deficit only to commit two sloppy fouls that allowed them to let it slip away after he fouled out. His defense was criticized. His effort, too. Coach Jason Kidd made an impassioned defense of Doncic before Game 4, warning that Doncic would bounce back but, faced with a Boston team loaded with defenders, no one believed him.

And then Doncic did. He scored 13 points in the first quarter, staking Dallas to a 13-point lead. He scored another 12 in the second. He hunted Al Horford on switches, then Xavier Tillman, then Sam Hauser. The result was the third-largest margin of victory in Finals history—and what amounted to a preseason game filled with bench players in the final quarter. 

“He was Luka,” Kidd said. “He's been Luka.”

He was, only this time with help. Doncic earned his fair share of criticism for Dallas falling into a 3–0 hole, but he was far from the biggest reason. Kyrie Irving no-showed the first two games in Boston, and the supporting cast around them was MIA for all three. On Friday, everyone got in on the act. P.J. Washington made threes. Dereck Lively II grabbed rebounds. Through three quarters, before both teams emptied the benches, Maxi Kleber was +25. Doncic and Irving (21 points) led the effort, but for the first time this series, the Mavs' role players showed up. 

“It's five people on the floor,” Doncic said. “So that's huge for us. Everybody played with a lot of energy. That's how we got to do it.”

There was a different energy from Doncic on Wednesday, at least on the defensive end of the floor. Boston has exposed Doncic's deficiencies in this series. The Celtics have targeted him, forced him to defend in pick-and-rolls and the results haven't been pretty. Every blow by has been captured on social media, every scowl freeze framed for eternity.

Doncic will never be more than a serviceable defensive player, but Game 4 proved he can be that. He stripped Jrue Holiday in the first quarter, one of three steals he had on the night. He met Jayson Tatum at the rim in the second, using his 6'7”, 230-pound frame to form a wall between Tatum and the basket.

“We were locked in,” Doncic said. “Especially on the defensive end.” 

Kidd has preached about the ripple effect of an engaged Doncic, an effect that was evident Friday. Boston scored 21 points in the first quarter. It scored 14 in the second. Through three quarters, the Mavericks held a 54–18 edge in points in the paint, a 13–0 lead in second-chance points and a 38–21 edge on the glass. They defended without fouling—Dallas held a 22–11 edge in free throw attempts—and held the vaunted Celtics three-point shooters to 33.3%. 

SOURCE: si.com