From Doncic’s hand, Dallas took the NBA runner-up. Photo: (AP Photo/Matt York)
In a devastating Luka Doncic, The Dallas Mavericks posted a devastating 123-90 win against the Phoenix Suns on Sunday.current NBA runners-up, in the seventh and final game of its Western Conference semifinals.
The Mavericks, who won by 46 pointswon the series 4-3 in aggregate and now they will face Stephen Curry’s Golden State Warriors in the Western Finals.
The Suns, by far the best team in the regular stage (64 wins and 18 losses), had a nightmare night without any response to the showing of Slovenian Luka Doncic, who scored 35 points and 10 rebounds. in 30 minutes, supported by substitute Spencer Dinwiddie, with 30 points.
Devin Booker (11 points), Chris Paul (10) and the other Suns stars did havoc in front of their Footprint Center fans, who cheated on their players.
The Suns ’traumatic exit completed the elimination of the last two NBA finalists on the same day, as the champion Milwaukee Bucks fell earlier into the hands of the Boston Celtics.
Dallas will advance to the Western Finals for the first time since winning the only NBA ring in 2011. from the hands of German Dirk Nowitzki, who went to the Footprint Center and joined in a hug with Doncic after the game.
“I don’t know what to say. It was an incredible win, everyone played as hard as they could,” the Slovenian declared.
The Warriors are “a championship team. It’s going to be very difficult again,” Doncic said of his next challenge. “But I’m really glad we got this win. I’m going to celebrate and we’ll talk about Golden State tomorrow.”
At 23 years old, the Slovenian phenomenon completed another exhibition for history where he entered the break with 27 points, the same as all Suns players combined.
No other player has equaled or surpassed the opposing team’s total score at halftime in the last 25 playoffs.
Doncic, who has scored 46 and 38 points in his two previous playoff elimination games, launched his runners-up challenge from the opening whistle, with 8 points in less than three minutes and the first of many smiles he will show throughout the night. .
The Slovenian hit 6 triples, some of them in actions that turned out to be ridiculous to his defenders, such as a ‘step back’ that left Cam Johnson on the ground.
The Suns tried to stop the Slovenian through a double defense but from the Mavericks bench came another player in state of grace, Spencer Dinwiddie, who also exploded in the first half with 21 points and 4 triples.
The Mavericks ’pressure and defense caused a short circuit in the Suns’ attack where their best figures, Booker and Paul, who were looking to have a second chance in the Finals, failed.
In a nightmare in the first half, Booker (2 points) and Paul (1) added a devastating 0/11 from the field and they also failed to react after the break, which left Phoenix with a 30-point deficit. (57-27) and heard boos from the stands.
Doncic watched the end from the bench. Photo: AP Photo/Matt York)
On returning from the locker room, Doncic didn’t give up on the accelerator and, with a new triple, he came to add more points than all the Suns combined (30 to 27).
Chris Paul, who was below his level for most of the series, didn’t make a field goal until the Suns had dropped 40 points.
The would -be Hall of Fame member missed out on a new opportunity to achieve her long -awaited first ring when she just turned 37 years old.
Hundreds of Suns fans could not contain the ridicule and left their seats before the start of the fourth quarter, where Phoenix barely achieved the result.
With information from the AFP
Source: Clarin
