Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks are advancing to the Western Conference Finals. They went to the Valley and blew the Phoenix Suns out of their own building in game 7. And it seems like he and the Mavs listened to Shaquille O’Neal who advised them to get multiple guys going, instead of just Luka who does everything himself, just like how Kobe Bryant used to do it.
The Mavs were on fire as they shot over 56% from the field and nearly 50% from the three-point land. They turned it up on the defensive end as well as they just dominated the Suns from the start. At the end of the first half, Chris Paul and Devin Booker had just 3 points, and they didn’t even make a field goal. And for the Mavs, it seemed everyone turned up and along with Luka as they were cooking the Suns.
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Luka Doncic and the Mavs listen to Shaquille O’Neal of getting going together
In games 1 and 2, it was all Luka as he did everything for the Mavs. The rest of the crew just couldn’t get going and the Suns won comprehensively. But as the series went on, Brunson started showing some signs of life. Spencer also started showing up off the bench. And in game 7, all three of them were cooking.
And Shaq had advised them to do just the same. Shaq said,” Dallas has to come ready, but Dallas when they got more two or three guys playing aggressive, they are a handful. If they just give the ball to Luka and watch him, anybody can beat him.”?Kobe in the middle of his career did not have a lot of help and he would try to go alone. And that resulted in a lot of individual success, but the team lost a lot more. It was only when he started trusting his teammates that he won another two titles. Shaq said if Jalen Brunson and Spencer Dinwiddie get going, Phoenix would be in trouble.
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And the Suns were in trouble as Luka took off from the start. To the Mavs’ credit, both of them showed up. Spencer came off the bench and dropped 30. And the Suns just couldn’t live up to them. The Mavs jumped off to an early lead, and the Suns started moving away from their game plan. They took bad shots and just couldn’t get into a rhythm. And Luka was just destroying them with the switches. The Mavs will be going into the next series with full confidence and they will be a handful if Luka and the others can get going.