You would think that Luka Doni and the Dallas Mavericks would be at the top of the Western Conference. It's the first time a player has started a season with seven straight 30-point games in over a century.
The Mavs are ninth in the west. I think they will finish in the top six like they did a year ago when I questioned the hiring of Kidd. After finishing fourth in the West, the team made it to the conference finals and lost to the Warriors.
The best-case outcome for this year is likely to be the WCF. It's too early to complain about it being too early but this team still goes as Luka goes. He has the ball in his hands as much as any player in the league and averages an NBA-leading 6.77 seconds per touch.
Getting the lion's share of the ball is a good option. Your coach is probably doing something wrong if that isn't the case. I hate watching this player, but I am getting a James Harden vibe from Luka.
Even though Doni is better at it than the Beard, we know how they end. The leader of the team went for 28, 9, and 9 a night, but the Mavs were 24th in points per game. Luka has seen more efficient offenses during his time in office. They had offensive numbers under Rick Carlisle that were hard to ignore.
The defense helped get them to the final round of the playoffs, which is further than the offense has ever gotten. Either Doni needs a running mate worthy of all-time sidekick status, like Scottie Pippen or Klay Thompson, that he's willing to trust to carry the team when he's off, or he needs to adjust his playstyle to elevate the Mavs above the sum
I would be tempted to go to New York if I was a man who averaged 30 points per game in the playoffs before Doni came back from injury. The Knick had outputs of 24, 40, and 31 in the three games that Doni missed against Utah in the opening round.
What happened to the guy who got 28 a game in the first round but only 18 the rest of the way?
He might have forgotten how to score. Jerry from "Hoop It Up" could've scored 20 against Utah's perimeter defense, but Luka passed the ball. In the three Round 1 games, Doni attempted nine more shots than his opponent, and in the Phoenix series he attempted 54 more shots than his opponent.
Doni is leading the league in shots per game with 24.7%. At 13 attempts per, Spencer is the feistiest Mav.
They didn't start with their big acquisition who was going to be what they needed. Christian Wood has been waiting to thrive next to a pick-and-roll maestro since he got to Houston the same year that Harden decided he wanted out, and he has been given as much power as a parent lets a child control a fake steering wheel.
Nobody likes standing around until the star wants to share offense. After two seasons with Harden, Chris Paul was done with the Astros. In ’21, he averaged 16, 5, and 4 which is close to the 18 points, 8 assists, and 5 boards that Chris Paul averaged for the year.
Kristaps was too injury prone for the organization and his attempts dropped every year in Dallas. After getting a bag, he jumped at the chance to see if he could make it in New York. They left because they weren't trusted to be sidekicks It was more of a Paul McCartney & Wings situation where you play bass and maybe get a shout out during the show.
Doni has been the best player on his team since he could dribble a basketball and his totalitarianism worked at Real Madrid and it got him a round away from the NBA finals. A balanced team approach is more effective than a one-man show. Dallas will go further than he alone can carry them when he decides to forgo the dribble-dribble-dribble step back 3s as his signature offense.
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