The performance Luka Doncic put together in an elimination game against the defending Western Conference Champions on Sunday night goes well beyond the numbers. In the wake of the Dallas Mavericks’ 33-point drubbing of the Phoenix Suns, ESPN’s Zach Lowe provided the perfect description of events during his opening monologue in the latest episode of his podcast, The Lowe Post:
“The Dallas Mavericks, and a sneering, mean-mugging, step-back jacking Luka Doncic, just absolutely…[took] their [the Suns] heart, eating it, stomping it and throwing it in Robert Sarver’s face court-side”
3 ways Luka Doncic humiliated the Phoenix Suns in Game 7
More than forty-eight hours later, with two nights to sleep on it, it still seems inconceivable to think the 64-win Suns, with everything to play for, had the game lost through the first half. In fact, when the first half buzzer sounded, Doncic had registered as many points as his opponent, scoring a dazzling 27.
As shocking of a contest as Game 7 was, the Slovenian superstar’s 35-point display was anything but a surprise. In his brief playoff career, Doncic averages an absurd 33-9-8. As a spry 23-year-old, the Mavericks superstar is putting up numbers we haven’t seen since 2007, when a 22-year-old Lebron led a shaky Cleveland team to the finals.
It takes a player the caliber of Doncic to inflict an opposing team with multiple cascades of boos from their own fans. While the entire Dallas squad joined forces to eliminate Phoenix in embarrassing fashion, this piece will highlight three facets of Doncic’s game seven onslaught which evoked an all-time humiliating response from the top-seeded Suns.