DALLAS – Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd passionately defended his 25-year-old superstar ahead of Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Friday, saying that some of the burning criticism of Luka Doncic over the previous few days had become “a little too far.”
Then Doncic responded in the best way possible, turning in a dominant, balanced performance to lead the Mavs to a season-extending 122-84 victory, preventing the Boston Celtics from celebrating their record 18th championship on the American Airlines Center court.
“I think it made some people eat their words in a healthy way,” Mavs co-star Kyrie Irving said.
Doncic finished with 29 points and 5 assists in 33 minutes, resting the entire fourth quarter along with the rest of the starters on both sides in the third most even game in the history of the Finals. He had 22 points in the paint, more than all the Celtics combined in the three quarters he played. But Doncic's offensive brilliance has never been in doubt.
Criticism of Doncic's foul with 4:12 remaining in a Game 3 loss that put the Mavs on the verge of elimination focused primarily on two facets of the game: his defense and his tendency to allow his concentration to slip. be affected by his frustration with the refereeing. On the day between games he publicly committed to significantly improving in both areas and kept his promise.
Doncic, as he did during his 31-point triple-double in the crucial Game 5 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round, made an effort to avoid complaining to the officiating crew on Sunday. He channeled his energy into defensive efforts and enthusiastic interactions with his teammates.
“We were locked in, especially on the defense side,” said Doncic, who had the game's best plus-minus at plus-30. “We played with pace. It helped them. I'm here to help them in any way I can. We just have to play like that.”
Doncic, who had struggled as the Celtics relentlessly pursued him on defense through the first three games of the series, had by far his best performance of the Finals on that end of the floor. Doncic, who had taken pride in his defensive improvement throughout the season, forced four turnovers and limited the Celtics to 2 of 9 shooting as a primary defender, according to ESPN Stats & Information tracking.
“I think what you're seeing is him just taking responsibility as best he can at this point in his life,” said Irving, who had 21 points and 6 assists to break his personal 13-game losing streak to his former team. “He's a young person, he's still trying to figure it out. I give him that grace. Also, we have to give him some tough love where we let him know and reiterate to him that you need to stay away from those [referees] a bit.
“I think lessons are just being learned. When he's locked in like that, not paying attention to the officials, he's a huge, impactful player for us, and a great leader for us. We want him to stay consistent in that and not be too hard on himself.”
Doncic's relatively poor performance in Game 3, when he scored 27 points on 27 field goal attempts before fouling out, was an outlier in what has been a remarkable playoff run. He became the fourth player in NBA history with at least 600 points, 150 rebounds and 150 assists in a single postseason, joining Nikola Jokic, LeBron James and Larry Bird, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
And Doncic isn't done, as the Mavs kept alive hopes of becoming the first of 157 teams to come back from a 3-0 deficit to win an NBA playoff series.
“Like I said at the beginning of the series, it's the first to four,” Doncic said. “We are going to believe until the end. So we have to keep going. I firmly believe in this team that we can do it.”
