Whenever Luka Doncic’s name is mentioned in any kind of basketball discussion, it invariably gets brought up that he isn’t very athletic. Doncic was asked during his latest press conference whether comments about him being unathletic bother him, and the 25-year-old had the perfect response.
“No, I’m athletic in different ways they don’t see,” Doncic said. “Not everything is jumping and running fast.”
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Doncic is on point when he says that. Strength, balance, and coordination are all components of athleticism and the Slovenian isn’t lacking when it comes to those. Add his exceptional basketball IQ to that mix and you get a player who dominates on the court in a way that very few others can.
Doncic’s greatness was particularly on display in the Conference Finals against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Timberwolves’ defense had made life ever so difficult for the likes of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Nikola Jokic, and Jamal Murray in the earlier rounds, but couldn’t slow down the Mavericks superstar and lost in five games.
For the series, Doncic averaged 32.4 points, 9.6 rebounds, 8.2 assists, 2.2 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game. The five-time All-Star also shot 43.4% from beyond the arc, as he made light work of that vaunted defense to get the Mavericks to the NBA Finals.
Doncic will be up against the Boston Celtics in the Finals and they are another phenomenal defensive team. It will be very interesting to see how they try to slow him down.
Doncic named Jrue Holiday as one of the three best perimeter defenders in the NBA, and you would expect the Celtics to have him guard the Slovenian a fair bit. Even with how great a defender Holiday is, though, I think Doncic is going to stuff that stat sheet in this series.
He struggled a little bit earlier in the playoffs due to various injuries but looks fine now. Doncic also got some time off to give his body some rest and I expect him to put on a show in his first Finals appearance. Will he be able to lead the Mavericks to the title, though? I am not so sure about that.
Luka Doncic Responded To Chandler Parsons’ Claim About His Relationship With Porzingis
Doncic will be up against a familiar face in this series, his former teammate Kristaps Porzingis. Their time together wasn’t all that great, though, and Chandler Parsons claimed that there was still beef between Doncic and Porzingis. Those comments were brought to the Mavericks star’s attention and Doncic called out Parsons for saying he and Porzingis have beef.
“What comments? That’s why I don’t watch a lot of that because people don’t know. I have met Chandler Parsons twice in my life, so I don’t know how he’d know that. But me and KP have a good relationship. I don’t know why people say otherwise.”
I don’t doubt that all was not well between Doncic and Porzingis when they were teammates, but it has now been over two years since the latter departed. Time heals all wounds and these didn’t seem all that deep either.
Neither Doncic nor Porzingis has really taken shots at the other in public in recent times. It appears to me as if it was a partnership that didn’t work and both men just moved on from it.
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