NBA Playoffs – playoffs – working day 44
Luka Dončić will play in his first NBA final. The 25-year-old Slovenian will seek his first championship in the United States against the Boston Celtics, one of the longest-standing teams in the league with 17 titles. It will be the third time that the Dallas Mavericks fight for a championship. They won their only title in 2011 thanks to the phenomenon that German Dirk Nowitzki was on the court. The European who picked up the German’s baton brings the Texans back to the fight for a ring thirteen years later. Tonight Dončić and Kyrie Irving each scored 36 points to seal the West final against Minnesota in five games (124-103).
Dončić ended the series against the Timberwolves from the first quarter. He scored 20 points in the first 10 minutes, outscoring all his rivals at the start. Minnesota avoided being swept 4-0 this week by winning Game 4 in Dallas. The victory forced the fifth game and the return home. The return seems to have awakened the more competitive side of the Ljubljana-born star. Dallas’ overwhelming start continued until the teams went to halftime. Then the Mavs won by 29 points. The noisy Timberwolves fans had by then been buried in a silence that did not end until the end. The lead grew to 36 points in the third quarter. They saw their team fall three times at home with Dončić as the main executioner.
This Thursday’s impressive performance has earned Dončić the MVP trophy of the Western final. “We are going to the final, I just can’t believe it,” the Slovenian assured the television cameras. As he spoke, the audience booed him mercilessly. His gesture revealed some discomfort before the cameras, although throughout the game it caused on more than one occasion to the local club with mocking comments and smiles. “My mind set the tone (of my performance), I knew that if we didn’t take advantage they were going to start double coverage, so we just played basketball,” said the former Real Madrid guard. After his television interview, he was the one who booed the Minneapolis crowd.
Dallas finished fifth in the West. From Thursday of next week they will face the Celtics, who finished at the top of the Eastern conference. The first game will be at the TD Garden stadium for the Boston team, who will have rested ten days after eliminating Indiana. The Mavericks come to the event motivated by a series in which Dončić has had Hall of Fame numbers. In the last six games he has recorded three triple doubles. His lowest-scoring night was Tuesday during the only loss in the series. Even there his numbers were exemplary: 28 points, 10 assists and 15 rebounds.
He Wonder child He came to the NBA at the age of 19 in the 2018-2019 season, when he became the rookie of the year. Since his second season he was a leader in several areas of the league and came in fourth place in the season’s MVP voting. He has been part of the All-NBA team for five years. Tonight he recorded his second quarter with 20 points or more in a postseason. The first was two years ago against the Warriors.
His career only needed one trip to the finals. This one has finally arrived. For the occasion he will have the help of Kyrie Irving, a player who has played in four finals and already won a ring with LeBron James’ Cavs in 2016. With 36 points, Irving has elevated his reputation as a player tonight. clutch. Tonight he raised his record to 15 wins and one loss when it comes to games that resolve a playoff tie. He will now have to face his former team for two seasons and with whom he was never able to conquer the East in the 2018 and 2019 playoffs.
Dallas got Dereck Lively II back tonight, who had missed last game with a neck injury. In this way they gained a center who was key, along with Daniel Gafford, to nullify during the series the attacks of Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Townes, who scored 28 points each this Thursday. The Mavs will reach their third final without injuries and with their main duo at a high level.
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