Luka Dončić and Rudy GobertJordan Johnson/NBAE via Getty Images
MINNEAPOLIS -- Luka Dončić Dallas Mavericks were down double digits for most of the second quarter and much of the third in Friday's Game 2 against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
After winning Game 1, the Mavs could've packed it up and started thinking about the trip home. They could've justified a lackadaisical effort by saying the goal of splitting on the road had been accomplished.
But they didn't fold. Dallas rallied. Luka scored 11 of his 32 in the third quarter. Kyrie Irving scored 13 of his 20 in the fourth. He missed two free throws with under two minutes to go, but that didn't stop him from drilling the three that set up another legendary Luka moment.
That bucket put the Mavs within two, and the defense held Minnesota scoreless for the last 1:29 of the game.
When Luka got the ball with 0:12.1 to go, he quickly engineered a switch that put Rudy Gobert on him. He danced for a moment, clearly setting up his stepback three, but there was really nothing Gobert could do. Considering the matchup difficulty, he actually made a decent contest.
But it didn't matter.
"The play was to get Luka the ball," coach Jason Kidd told reporters after the game. "Let Luka do what Luka does in those moments."
When you have an all-time talent, the Xs and Os can get remarkably simple. After the game, Luka said he told Dereck Lively II to just give him a ball screen.
"I just see what the defense gives me," he said. "I didn't expect they would switch. We were just going to play that pick-and-roll. I told D-Live come up, and we'll just figure it out from there. That's about it. Read the defense."
Gobert's better than most rim protectors across NBA history on an island with a guard outside, but once Luka got that switch, the result almost felt inevitable. As soon as he got him backpedaling, the stepback was set up. The bucket was pure.
And this was hardly Luka's first experience with heroics.
He drilled a buzzer-beater in the 2020 playoffs to win Game 4 against the Los Angeles Clippers. He beat the clock with a runner three to sink the Memphis Grizzlies in a game in April 2021. In total, he now has eight career buckets to tie or take the lead with five or fewer seconds to go in the fourth quarter or overtime.
And those are just the individual plays that leap off the screen.
The entirety of his resume, playoff or otherwise, is already absurd. And he just turned 25 in February.
For his regular-season career, Luka is averaging 28.7 points, 8.7 rebounds and 8.3 assists per game. No one in NBA history matches or exceeds all three marks.
Run the same exercise with his playoff numbers--31.0 points, 9.3 rebounds and 8.2 assists--and you get the same result. Luka's alone there.
Advanced stats more your style? Dončić is fourth all time in career box plus/minus, behind only Nikola Jokić, Michael Jordan and LeBron James. He's also fourth in career playoff box plus/minus (behind the same trio).
How about accolades? He has five First Team All-NBA nods through his age-24 season. No one else in league history had more than four through the same age (and the two players with four are legends Kevin Durant and Tim Duncan).
Luka's resume is already unprecedented. And now, he has a chance to add a title (and potentially a Finals MVP) to it.
The Mavs are headed back to Dallas with a 2-0 lead, and it's hard to avoid looking ahead.
With that game-winner, Luka has his team within six wins of an NBA championship.
The Timberwolves aren't going to lay down in Dallas. They had the best defense in the league in the regular season. They knocked out the defending champs. And they're as well equipped as anyone to at least bother Luka and Kyrie.
The Boston Celtics are cruising through the East. For much of the postseason, they've looked like the juggernaut they were throughout all of 2023-24.
Those six wins won't be easy to come by.
But if the Mavs secure them, you can bet the legacy talk for Luka will get pretty loud. Even at his age, he's earned it.
"I'm amazed," Kyrie said of playing alongside an ascending all-time talent. "I don't use that word lightly either. Of course, the awards come along with that too. And the expectations come along, and I think he's answered a lot of calls."
As long as he's answering, those calls will keep coming.
We're less than 30 years removed from Michael Jordan. LeBron is still playing. And Jokić has crashed the all-timers debate with the run he's on. But those three may have to make room for Luka.
Moments like Friday suggest he's on the way.
