In Game 1, Luka Doncic had taken control of the last quarter, scoring 15 of his 33 points to allow the Mavericks to regain home advantage against the Wolves. In Game 2, he let Kyrie Irving handle the scoring in the final period, contenting himself with scoring a single basket. But what a basket!
While Anthony Edwards lost the ball, Dallas had 12 seconds to equalize or go ahead (106-108).
“Once we gave Luka the ball, we wanted to give him space and let him do what he wanted” describes Jason Kidd. “As he attacked the racket again and again, Rudy (Gobert) had to respect that. »
Because after a screen from Derek Lively II, the Wolves and Jaden McDaniels left Rudy Gobert in isolation against Luka Doncic. In this duel very far from the circle, the pivot was not able to prevent his opponent’s “stepback”.
“We switched to the pick-and-roll and I found myself on him in isolation. He scored a huge shot. I let my team down on this last action”
“The action was to give the ball to Luka and let Luka do what he knows how to do in those moments. We talked about taking a 2-point, because we were only down by two points. But when he started to make Rudy Gobert dance, you could see that the stepback was coming. And the rest is history” continues the coach.
Luka Doncic, who did not like a mistake from Rudy Gobert in the second quarter, could exult in the direction of the Frenchman. While everyone thought he had shouted that the Frenchman could not defend on him, the Texan leader had fun explaining that he had not said that: “I was speaking in Slovenian…” he smiled.
For the four-time DPOY, Luka Doncic’s “trashtalking” is usual and doesn’t really matter.
“We switched to the pick-and-roll and I found myself on him in isolation. He scored a huge shot. I let my team down on this last action… They trusted me to make a stop and he scored a basket, at 3 points at that. Which he does very well. It’s my responsibility. I have to be better in these situations. »
On TNT, Draymond Green and company enjoyed the sequence, while Luka Doncic concluded: “He (Rudy Gobert) is big and he can’t move too much. I’m not going fast, but I can go faster than him. »
