Following a season where he put up phenomenal numbers, many believe Luka Doncic can be the man to lead the Dallas Mavericks to their first NBA championship since 2011. On Tuesday, however, the high-flying Slovenian star was brought back down to earth against a relentless and hard-working Oklahoma City Thunder defense.
The Mavericks dropped Game 1 of the playoff series against the Thunder in Oklahoma 117-95. Facing a No. 1 seed is never easy but the manner in which the Mavericks lost is cause for concern. The Thunder led 62-53 at the half and never looked back. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 29 points and Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams combined for another 37. Doncic struggled on the night finishing with just 19 points. He shot was 6-19 from the field and scored just one of his eight three-point attempts.
Instead of focusing on the disappointing loss, Doncic remained unfazed and is moving on to the next game.
“Who cares. We lost. We just got to move onto the next one. We’ve got to be better,” said Doncic per ESPN.
Onto Game 2 for Luka and the Mavs 🤷♂️ pic.twitter.com/jdrvPpFbg8
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 8, 2024
Over the regular season, Doncic averaged 33.9 points, 9.8 assists and 9.2 rebounds per game. Over seven games in the playoffs this year, he is averaging 28.3 points, 94 assists and 8.4 rebounds.
The Oklahoma City Thunder seemed to have a strategy in place to counter Doncic’s strengths. It will be interesting to see if Jason Kidd can make some adjustments before Game 2 to relieve some of the pressure on his superstar.
