Luka should play the game, not the refs

Luka Doncic cannot foul out with 4 minutes left in a must-win game 3 at home in the NBA Finals. 

He can’t let that happen. He has to understand the situation. He’s been terrific all year, leading the NBA in scoring. He’s one of the best closers in the league. He has to find a way to stay on the floor for his offense down the stretch. The referees were calling ticky-tack fouls on him. Jaylen Brown was coming at him in transition. Luka had 2 defenders behind him. Doncic should have got out of the way. 

Instead, he tried to draw a charge on Brown. Yes, Jaylen initiated contact and pushed him out of the way. But that’s not how NBA refs call it. Luka has to realize that. The NBA crew called Luka for a blocking foul. After review, they said that Luka wasn’t in a legal defending position. He wasn’t set, and he shuffled his feet to block Brown. 

“The referee called a foul. You have to move on,” said Dallas coach Jason Kidd. 

But Luka and Dallas fans felt that they were robbed. A flurry of iffy calls, including a questionable call against PJ Washington for a moving screen, stole the Mavs momentum after their furious come-back from 21 down in the fourth quarter. 

“We couldn’t play physical,” a downcast Luka told a press conference after the loss. “Six fouls in the NBA finals, come on man.”

Luka knows that he has to better than that. He and the Mavs built a 13-point lead early by smartly attacking the rim with Boston’s Kristaps Porzingis out with a lower leg injury. But after that, Luka failed to finish on about 10 shots in the paint, especially in the second half. He was 11 for 27 on the night. The ball didn’t move enough through teammates until their fourth quarter run.

He also looked slow on defense, missing coverages while jawing with the refs. ESPN, citing Second Spectrum, reported that Doncic in this year’s playoffs has allowed the three highest blow-by percentages on drives in a playoff series in the past decade: 65 percent for the LA Clippers; 59 percent for the Oklahoma City Thunder; and 67 percent for the Boston Celtics.

His frustration has led to cheap fouls and too much whining. This puts the spotlight on the refs instead of his own achievements, such as winning titles with Real Madrid and Slovenia, and leading Dallas to the NBA Finals.

If his knees don’t break down, he should have many NBA finals ahead of him. Fluent in English and Spanish, he’s a national hero in Slovenia and already one of the most popular players worldwide. Fans packed arenas in southeast Asia to see him at the FIBA World Cup last year.

He often looks like LeBron James hitting step-back fade-aways to his left, or like Dirk Nowitzki hitting threes off one leg. He’s the most magical passer since Magic Johnson. 

But Magic didn’t make a reputation by fouling out in his first NBA Finals. A rookie at age 20, he led the Lakers to the championship over the Celtics, scoring 42 points with 15 rebounds to win Game 6 without season MVP Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. 

Luka needs to do something on that level. If Dallas can add a few more pieces to take the weight off Luka, he could indeed become a NBA champion like his teammate Kyrie Irving. “He just needs time to let it breathe,” said Kyrie after the game. “And a hug.”

(words and images copyright Christopher Johnson Globalite Media all rights reserved)