He was the most uncertain and diminished player among the “Fab Four” who had animated the end of Game 4, and yet, it was he who flew through the debates! In the Mavericks' crushing victory in Los Angeles, Luka Doncic made Luka Doncic with 35 points, 10 assists and 7 rebounds. This is his first game in the series above 50% on shots (14 out of 26), and it's the first game where he imposed his basketball.
From the first quarter, finished with 12 points and 6 assists, the Slovenian set the tone. Whether it's pushing his defender to find his spots, or putting his teammates forward, Luka Doncic dissected the Clippers' defense. A real undermining job which will bear fruit at the start of the second half. The Clippers' dike gives way, and Luka Doncic delights.
“I decided to play faster” he explains at the edge of the field. “ I have to play faster, I have to be more aggressive to go into the racket. »
The Clippers tried everything…
A high screen from Daniel Gafford or Derek Lively II and he can then get to the heart of the defense. There, he watches what the defense does. If it gets on him, he sends it to the alley-oop or serves his shooters in the corners. If it doesn't go up, he goes all the way. It's basic, and yet the Clippers will never find a solution! And when Norman Powell sticks him 10 meters away, Luka Doncic plants a 3-pointer on one leg. Disgusting…
At the end, a 30-point victory to inflict on the Clippers the heaviest defeat in their history in the playoffs. “We usually say that a victory of 1 or 50 points is the same, but it’s still a great victory” he concludes. “But there is still one more to go for. We need one more victory. We haven’t done anything yet…”
Luka Doncic knows more than anyone that a fourth victory is needed to validate the whole, since he was eliminated twice by the Clippers in the playoffs. In 2021, he had already taken Game 5 in Los Angeles to give himself two match points. But the Clippers had won the last two meetings of the series.
