Luka Doncic has delivered steady defense for Dallas in the 2024 NBA Playoffs.
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Luka Doncic has a well-earned reputation as one of the NBA’s most gifted offensive players — an elite shotmaker, creator and playmaker who earned his first scoring title (33.9 ppg) this season.
Luka’s reputation on defense has grown steadily since March as the Mavs ranked second in defensive rating (107.3) among teams and Luka ranked first (102.5) among players (min. 750 possessions, 142 players) over the final month of the regular season.
Dallas’ Game 2 win on Tuesday gave us plenty of traditional Luka Magic – 32 points, nine dimes, five 3s, including a pair of momentum-swinging step-back 3s in the 4th quarter.
But there were a few new elements too, as he played tough on-the-ball defense against Paul George (0-for-1 shooting vs. Luka), Kawhi Leonard (1-4) and James Harden (2-6) – who combined to score just eight points on 3-of-11 shooting against Luka.
- 🗣️ Mavs coach Jason Kidd: “When he’s playing at that level, [his teammates] have to step up too. They understand the responsibility of their leader. When he’s gonna play defense and participate, they have to be able to do the same thing.”
The play above shows Luka staying with PG step-for-step, but Derrick Jones Jr. comes over to help off Harden. That led to George getting the ball to Harden, forcing Dallas into rotation and leading to a Westbrook 3.
- As the ball fell through the net, Luka waved his arms to indicate to his teammates and coaches not to send help his way – that he could handle the matchup on his own
On LA’s next possession, they got into the PG-Luka matchup again. This time the Mavs didn’t send help and Luka stayed locked on George, contesting his 3-point miss.
Luka finished Game 2 holding his matchups to 6-of-24 (25%) shooting (2-9 from 3). For the series, Luka’s defense has held up against Kawhi and George (1-of-4 each), Norman Powell (0-4) and Harden (4-11).
Can the Mavs maintain this level of defensive intensity in tonight’s pivotal Game 3 in Dallas?
