‘MVP’ Doncic challenges for 2023 after a crazy week in the NBA

eve New Year’s EveAnd the Greg Popovich Before the press analyzed the match that will conclude a year the Saint Anthony spurs. Up front I would get a file dallas Mavericksbut above all Doncic. The legendary coach joked about the Slovenian: “50. Our goal is to keep Luka below 50 points.” They don’t.

Doncic scored 51 points and the Mavs, who finished fourth in the Western Conference With a score of 21-16, they achieved their sixth consecutive victory (125-126). Luka’s performance was completed with 6 rebounds, 9 assists and 4 steals.

The Texas derby didn’t diminish Doncic and Popovich had no choice but to succumb to the evidence: “He’s incredible. He’s the perfect basketball player, able to combine basketball intelligence with individual skills. He’s very special. You can try anything against him. And nothing works:” The only thing you can do is hope he doesn’t score too many shots and your players score more,” he said after the match.

Just four days earlier, Doncic had made history by scoring 61 points, 22 rebounds, and 10 assists in the Mavs’ overtime victory against the Reds. New York Knicks. And the epic accompanied Luca at all times, being the one who was forced into extra time after he scored the rebound from a direct free kick that he missed on purpose.

To top it off, it’s another four days before Doncic has already scored 50 points (+8 rebounds and +10 assists) in the win against Houston missiles. Luke Magic He has made it to fifty three times in eight days, three times in five games, something that only James Harden has ever achieved (January 2019).

[Doncic pasa a la eternidad de la NBA con un triple doble de 60 puntos: “Necesito una cerveza”]

What hasn’t happened before is that in five straight games someone has scored 228 points, 56 rebounds and 51 assists. who was the closest Russell Westbrookwho in 2017 had a record of 205-65-56 in five games played between March and April.

will be next Oscar Robertson, in 1960, who went 200-54-52 in five straight games. And that’s as far as you can count, as no other player in NBA history surpasses the 200-50-50 mark.

sweeping legends

There is a lot of data out there to make the public aware that what Doncic was doing is practically unrealistic. Like legends Dwayne valley or very Dirk Novitsky, the sixth-leading scorer in NBA history, failed to score more than 50 points in three games in his career. Luca has achieved that between his last five matches.

In Mavs they can’t be used as big as Doncic did either. In the franchise, they’ve only seen one of their players achieve 50 or more points four times before: two from Nowitzki and one from Jim Jackson and the last of Beauty Mashburn. Doncic is also the player for Dallas who has scored 40 or more points.

The best player and the World Cup in 2023

This is a gold brooch to close out the year. Doncic entered 2023 immersed in the best moment of his entire career, delivering them all, however. Moreover, one should not think of it as something transient. In fact, his entire season followed a stellar streak that puts him ahead of the running for regular season MVP.

Finishing as the best in the NBA has become more of a challenge than real for Doncic, who last year finished fifth in votes won by another European (Nikola Jokic). It also has a mirror of what was achieved in the most recent playoffs, in which the Mavs played the Conference Finals against the league champions, the Golden State Warriors. Stephen Curry.

Doncic’s 2023 team does not focus only on Mavs, because the Slovenian national team will be in the FIBA ​​World Cup, which will be held at the end of the summer in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia. And his presence was confirmed by the President of the Slovenian Federation, being the first World Cup to play since his team was not there in 2019. Six years after winning the gold medal at the European Championships, Doncic will once again try to make history with his country.

The year looks promising, to say the least, for Doncic because of the way he finished 2022 and because of the goals ahead of him. We didn’t mention it, but hopefully the records will continue to drop alongside them over the next few months. 2023 could be the ‘magic’ year for Luka Doncic.

Follow the topics that interest you