Critics pounced on Luka Doncic. He responded with greatness.

15/06/2024

DALLAS — His night ended with a wedgie. It wasn’t the bully kind, though Luka Doncic has received criticism for bringing his irascible behavior and optional defense to the NBA Finals. I’m talking about the basketball kind. Doncic danced into a step-back jumper, and the ball got stuck between the backboard and rim. It was about the only thing that went wrong for him.

The Dallas Mavericks superstar grinned, slapped his hands with a few teammates and took a long, ovation-filled walk to the end of the bench. A minute and a half remained in the third quarter, but Friday night was over for Doncic. The Mavericks led 92-57. When garbage time finally ended, they had destroyed Boston, 122-84, in Game 4 at American Airlines Center, avoiding a sweep and forcing the Celtics to return home to try to eliminate them on Monday.

It’s probably just a reprieve for the Mavericks, but the fight they showed matters. After an erratic Game 3, Doncic endured what Coach Jason Kidd deemed “personal attacks,” with ESPN driving most of the conversation. With Dallas trailing the series 3-0 and facing elimination, it was an important moment for Doncic. It was a test of his determination. It’s fun to be an ascending, 25-year-old franchise player. But when the championship window opens for a transcendent talent, the scrutiny can multiply to a suffocating level. In leading the Mavs to the Finals, Doncic stuck his head out of that window to take a good look at glory. To some, it might look like he’s trapped in a guillotine.

Doncic and his team appear to be ahead of schedule, but every opportunity is precious. The Finals microscope has revealed the flaws hidden within his brilliance. His ref-raging antics are even worse than his high technical foul totals indicate. His poor defense has never been a secret, but the weakness is exacerbated when Doncic is battling multiple injuries and struggling with his emotions. In Game 4, he needed to remind the basketball world of his greatness. He needed to show resistance and make sure a wondrous playoff run didn’t end with a bitter sweep. He needed to ignore the pain in his knee, ankle and chest and summon the player who earned the nickname Luka Magic.

He answered the call with 29 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals in just three quarters. On offense, he was as unguardable as ever. Best of all, he was finally a factor on defense. He was also composed. He smiled more than he barked at the officials.

When Dallas rookie center Dereck Lively II talked to Doncic during the pregame, he had one request.

“The first two times you get fouled, don't say nothing to the refs,” Lively remembered saying. “That's all I got. Just please don't do that, and I'll make sure you get open, make sure you're going be comfortable on the offensive and defensive end.”

Doncic kept his cool, and Lively kept his word, finishing with 11 points and 12 rebounds. For the first time in this series, the Mavericks played like the team that thrived during the second half of this season. They received contributions from every player in the rotation. Five Mavericks scored in double figures, and the bench had 54 points. They played faster. Their defense held the Celtics to 36.3 percent shooting.

The performance, which resulted in the third-largest margin of victory in Finals history, doesn’t guarantee a momentum shift. As Kidd said, “It's real simple. We don't have to complicate this. This isn't surgery. Our group was ready to go. [The Celtics] were ready to celebrate. Understand, we made a stand. We were desperate. We got to continue to keep playing that way. Understand, they're trying to find a way to close the door.”

It was a stand that Doncic had to make. He’s too special to end on a sour note. The Mavericks, a No. 5 seed, shouldn’t be here. But Doncic and Kyrie Irving accelerated their timeline. Still, there’s the question of whether Dallas is merely enjoying a miracle ride or offering the first glimpse of a long period of contention. Most of the answer depends on Doncic, a wunderkind who seems born for this stage.

Getting here is different from thriving here, however. It’s the master class of all master classes, a place where individual greatness is not good enough. Basketball may be a team game, but the Finals are a superstar’s burden. Doncic has felt a bit of the heat. It burned him. He responded with a shrug.

Asked to reflect on what he has learned during his first Finals appearance, he said: “I don’t know what I learn of myself. Ask me the next day. I’ll come up with the answer. I don’t know really right now.”

He smiled. He knows the game. He just chooses not to play it.

That’s what his coach is for. Kidd, a Hall of Fame point guard, spent the night defending his superstar. Before the game, he was passionate and open about the extreme pressures of stardom. Afterward, he was defiant.

“He was Luka,” Kidd said of his star’s competitive response to criticism. “He’s been Luka. There wasn’t a different Luka out there. He played at a high level. He was great. He’s been great. He’s one of the best players in the world. As much as we want to criticize, he’s a hell of a player.”

Kidd understands the scrutiny that comes with a star striving to win a title. He lived with it until he won a championship in 2011. It took him 17 seasons. As a dominant scorer and playmaker, Doncic is a different breed of superstar, intensifying the pressure. While Kidd is known to be blunt with Doncic in private about how he can improve, he doesn’t go there in public. He wants him to be free to aspire in a healthy manner.

“Everybody has the right to their opinion,” Kidd said. “It's just sometimes we might take it a little bit too far, right? And understanding if you put yourself in that person's shoes, could you stand up to the barbecue, right? Sometimes we want to fry someone, but if you reversed it, and it was you being fried, would you like it? Most likely not, right?”

Getting barbecued and fried at the same time? That’s one intense meal.

Kidd continued: “What I'm more disappointed in is that we are at the highest stage, where we have one of the best players in the world playing the game the right way, but we want to criticize some of the things that he does not do well. … No one in this room is perfect, right? So, like, give my man a break. Let him play the game. Because we are all here to watch him play, right? And so let's just enjoy it.”

We watched, he played, and it was a complete joy. The Mavericks remain in trouble, but Doncic’s reputation is out of the barbecue grill and the frying pan, for now. There’s no need anymore to wonder whether he can stand the heat.