Luka Doncic has had one hell of a postseason run this time around. He has defied all realistic expectations put on the Dallas Mavericks by willing this team to the Conference Finals. He came back from injury to help them close out the Utah Jazz in Round 1 and then pulled off the biggest upset of these playoffs as they eliminated the top-seeded Phoenix Suns in 7 games in the Conference Semifinals. That, however, is as far as they’ll go this season.
The Golden State Warriors have proven to be a bit too much to handle for Luka and the Mavs, who now find themselves in a 3-0 deficit after their 109-100 defeat on Sunday. After the game, Luka seemed a bit reflective on how things have panned out this season as he spoke about this being his first appearance in the Conference Finals and how he still has a lot to learn:
Luka Doncic: “The first three quarters, I played very bad. That’s on me. I’m still learning. I think after this season is done, whenever we are, I’m going to look back and learn a lot of things. This is my first conference finals in NBA. I’m 23, man. I’m still learning a lot.”
— Callie Caplan (@CallieCaplan) May 23, 2022
Luka Doncic: “The first three quarters, I played very bad. That’s on me. I’m still learning. I think after this season is done, whenever we are, I’m going to look back and learn a lot of things. This is my first conference finals in NBA. I’m 23, man. I’m still learning a lot.”
You can feel he does seem a bit defeated and considering no team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit, it isn’t all that surprising. The Mavs just don’t have the talent to stack up against Golden State and that fact has been made very clear in this series. The Warriors are a different animal compared even to the Suns who had the league’s best record, and unless Luka puts in a herculean effort in Game 4, we are set to witness a sweep here.
Regardless of what happens, this postseason run has been a major success for Luka and the Mavs. They had been eliminated in the first round each of the last two seasons, so to get this experience now will be a boost going forward. As Luka said, he is only 23 and if the Dallas front office can put some more talent around him, then they will be a major title threat for the years to come.
