Luka Doncic also knows how to manage two-man takes | NBA

Victorious in 17 of their 23 games in 2022, the Mavericks have been a hit for a month and a half. That night, they even offered themselves the luxury of dominating the leader of the Eastern Conference, namely the Heat, on their own floor.

A success snatched by forceps and thanks to a great collective, with five players at more than 10 points. Including Luka Doncic of course, once again his team’s top scorer (21 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists), but yet not as iNFLuential as usual on the Texas game.

It must be said that Miami had set itself the goal of not being crushed by the Slovenian, coming into it physically with Jimmy Butler, PJ Tucker or even Bam Adebayo. In addition to constantly sending him two players on his back, when he was looking in one-on-one for the weakest Florida defender (Duncan Robinson, in general).

And Erik Spoelstra’s tactics first paid off in the first half, Dallas failing to take the opposing defense from behind, while Luka Doncic was neutralized (10 points, 2/9 on shots) .

” If they decide to take me two, then someone is bound to be open“, summarized the franchise player Mavs, obviously. ” We had a lot of difficulties in the first half, but then we recovered well. We aired the game well and that’s why we won the match.“

A beneficial experience in Europe

With 18 successes at 3-pts (in 41 attempts), the Mavericks actually made the powder speak tonight, behind the arc. And the good shifts of Luka Doncic allowed the usual Texan “role-players”, like Maxi Kleber or Dorian Finney-Smith, to sanction the Heat on several occasions, then to overthrow it over the minutes.

” I thought he did a great job of neutralizing double-takes and pulling off the right move. “, judged in this regard Jason Kidd, the coach of Dallas. ” He delivered a lot of ‘hockey-assists’ [la passe qui précède la passe décisive, ndlr] and his teammates were successful in their shots. The patience he showed was just unbelievable, it’s unbelievable that a 22-year-old is able to play like that.“

It must be said that, even if he has not yet celebrated his 23rd birthday (he will be on February 28, editor’s note), Luka Doncic already has a great experience among professionals, since he started his career at only 16. years, on the side of Real Madrid. And it was precisely in Europe that he was able to adapt, very early on, to any type of defense.

” I was taken a lot by two, yes. But it was already like that for me in Europe, the defenders took me much more often than here, in the NBA. So it took me a little time to adapt. [hier soir] “, delivered the main interested party, author of five” hockey-assists “against Miami.

A new Latvian accomplice to sanction the defenses

Another Mavs player who took advantage of the beautiful shifts of the Slovenian leader: Davis Bertans (12 points, 3/7 to 3-pts). Like Spencer Dinwiddie, the Latvian made his debut under his new colors and, at the FTX Arena, he could already realize the pleasure provided by the simple fact of evolving alongside a talent like Luka Doncic.

” Luka [Doncic] is a player who carries the ball a lot and attracts a lot of attention “Explained the former Wizards shooter, valuable off the bench against the Heat, with his shooting quality. ” But as soon as he starts distributing the ball like that, it opens up the game and makes it so much easier.“

Suffice to say that Davis Bertans, post-for-post successor to his compatriot Kristaps Porzingis in the Texas workforce, risks being like a fish in water in Jason Kidd’s systems, after the last 15 complicated months in Washington.

” The only thing that comes to mind is to have fun and enjoy every second spent on the floor “, he confided, to finish. ” All I want to do here is help my team win and bring my energy. That’s all that matters now.“