Mavs' Luka Doncic Continues to Turn Heads with Crazy Passing
During the Dallas Mavericks' 129-125 overtime win over the Brooklyn Nets on Friday, Luka Doncic stole the show. He recorded his third-career 40-point triple-double with 41 points, 11 rebounds, and 14 assists. Whether he needed to take over as a scorer or find the open man, he got the job done.
"Obviously, Luka is probably the best guy to make tough shots and make shots when they count, but he also knows when to make the right basketball plays," Mavs forward Maxi Kleber said. "He just has a good feel for when he should shoot himself and when he has to get other people shots.
"He just makes the right basketball plays all the time."
Along the way, Doncic threw a memorable no-look assist to Kleber that captivated the big-market audience that comes with playing in New York. The progression of the play leading to the pass was impressive. With Christian Wood spacing out and Doncic often drawing two defenders on drives, he needed to see Kleber with inside positioning against the defender responsible for guarding two-with-one on the backend before spinning away and making the pass.
"It was really a ridiculous pass," Kleber said with a laugh. "I don't know how he saw it, but for some reason playing with Luka now for a long time, I thought he might see that pass, but I saw guys helping up on him so I was like I have to be ready, and then the pass came.
"I don't know how he saw it, to be honest. You have to ask him yourself. But it was an incredible pass."
Doncic was asked about how he recognized to make the pass to Kleber. He was reserved in his response — crediting his willingness to "try some things" when he's playing. He jokingly said that he tries "dumb things" in practice and sometimes it works during the game.
"I honestly don't know. It's tough to explain," Doncic said. "I don't really know the answer to that. I probably just say I try some things on the court. That was it.
"Sometimes in practice, I try to do some dumb things, probably ... sometimes in games, it works."
As an opponent, it's very challenging to account for the level of pressure Doncic applies on the defense. He's almost unstoppable in single coverage situations but has incredible passing vision to exploit when drawing help.
"He makes others better," Nets coach Steve Nash said of Doncic. "He makes his teammates better. He makes plays for others -- 14 assists, not to mention all the times he probably gets the hockey assist so he puts an incredible amount of pressure [on teams]. All they do over and over again is him in pick-and-roll, get a matchup and make a play, and that's a lot of responsibility for him and he handles it almost every night."
The NBA teams that have attempted to contain Doncic in a playoff setting know better than anyone how challenging it is to get the job done against the three-time All-NBA First-Team guard. He's seen every possible coverage and has ways to counter them all — leading to incredible passing outcomes.
Want the latest in breaking news and insider information on the Mavericks? Click Here.
