There are several critical things that will hinge on the first-round playoff series that kicks off Saturday between the Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Clippers.
For starters, there’s a clear path to the Western Conference Finals on a side of the bracket missing the Denver Nuggets. There’s a red-hot Mavs team trying to keep its stellar form alive now that we’ve arrived at playoff basketball. There’s what becomes of Paul George if the Clippers crash out in the first round, and what to make of the star-studded tandem in Dallas if it’s the Mavs who get eliminated early.
But atop the list of what could be at stake is a possibility sometimes whispered about in the NBA and, barring a change, creeping closer to reality: That Luka Doncic is actually James Harden 2.0. — a superb scorer whose game doesn’t easily translate to success in the playoffs.
Yes, at this moment in time, Doncic is one of the great basketball players on earth, and all the things that particular truth can foretell — championships, perhaps several, worthy accolades like MVPs, periods of domination, HOF speeches, and so on — can feel inevitable.
Doncic, after all, is so astoundingly great that Stan Van Gundy told the Dan Le Batard show last week Doncic is “the best offensive player now that I have ever seen.”
That’s high praise indeed, and well-earned, if a bit much. Doncic just had 33.9/9.2/9.8 season. He’s a human highlight reel whose virtuoso offensive performances are difficult to overstate. I just voted him at third on my official NBA MVP ballot, an excruciating decision given the seasons Nikola Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander also have had.
And now, just in time for the playoffs, Doncic has a team that seems ready to rise to his level of expectations.
Since the All-Star Break, the Mavericks have the seventh-best offensive rating in the league. No surprise there — Doncic and Kyrie Irving are an outstanding offensive duo. But this next part is downright shocking: Since March 7, when Daniel Gafford, who was acquired at the trade deadline, was…
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