Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks upset the Phoenix Suns in Game 7 to win their Western Conference semifinals matchup. Doncic scored 35 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a dominant 123-90 win. Since Chris Paul attacked him in the pick and roll to close out Game 2 and take a 2-0 lead, Luka and the Mavericks have gone 4-1 and Doncic has averaged 30 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.
Luka Doncic WENT OFF in Game 7 dropping 27 points in the first half on his way to 35 points and the @dallasmavs win to advance to the Western Conference Finals! #MFFL@luka7doncic: 35 PTS, 10 REB, 2 STL, 6 3PM pic.twitter.com/nf9j8T9J85
— NBA (@NBA) May 16, 2022
There was a lot of chatter and back and forth in this series. The Suns’ Devin Booker mocked Doncic’s flopping.
“The Luka special.”
—Devin Booker after staying down on the floor after a fall.
(via ky_russell0/IG) pic.twitter.com/63EoZ8zyIL
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 11, 2022
Suns’ head coach Monty Williams said his team played “the worst game of the season” and as the leader he took responsibility for his team’s loss.
“I didn’t have them ready to play in a Game 7. (Dallas) played their tails off,” Suns head coach Monty Williams said.
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) May 16, 2022
Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd deserves a ton of credit for the defensive game plan he had his team employ against the Suns. Over the last five games they held Paul to 18 field goals and 18 turnovers.
Andscape’s Marc Spears is reporting that Paul had suffered a quad injury.
Suns point guard Chris Paul limped out of the arena with a very slow walk. @andscape learned that Paul had a left quad injury. When asked about his quad injury, Paul declined comment.
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) May 16, 2022
Healthy or not, Luka came out and set the tone immediately in Game 7. He scored 15 points in the first six minutes of the game and the Mavericks never looked back.
Winning in this league at this stage of the playoffs, despite what you may think is extremely challenging. What the Mavericks did after falling down 0-2 was remarkable. This was the Phoenix Suns, they had best record in the league. The Suns finished No. 1 in aNET rating, third in aORTG and third in aDRTG. The only team to finish top five in all three statistics.
Mavericks’ head coach Jason Kidd wasn’t surprised by his star player’s performance.
“He’s Luka,” Dallas coach Jason Kidd said. “He loves the stage. As it gets bigger, he gets better.”
This will be Kidd’s first time in the conference finals as head coach. Of course he has plenty of experience as a player, but it’s so much different.
Kidd shouldn’t be too overawed by the moment, and if he needs inspiration he should look no further than the Warriors’ Steve Kerr.
When Kerr took the job beginning with the 2014-15 season, he immediately guided the Warriors to a title in his first year as a head coach on any level.
Stranger things have happened. Why couldn’t Kidd guide the Mavericks to a title?
If he does, Mavericks’ governor Mark Cuban will want to make sure Kidd is locked up for the long haul.
Doncic won the EuroLeague MVP award, being its youngest winner, after averaging 16 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game over 33 games.
“It’s Game 7,” Doncic said when asked about the pressure of playing in an elimination game. “I like these games.”
In his fourth NBA season Doncic has the Mavericks in the conference finals, a tremendous feat, and, given his age, it looks like the Mavericks will be relevant for the foreseeable future.
The Dallas Mavericks next face the three-time champion Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals. While the Warriors boast a two-time MVP in Stephen Curry with the trio of Draymond Green and Jordan Poole, the Mavericks still might have the best player in the series with Doncic.
if the Mavericks can stay locked in defensively, Luka might carry this team to the NBA Finals.
