The Celtics alumni praised the Mavericks superstar despite Boston playing him in NBA Finals.
Luka Doncic has caught a lot of flack for his NBA Finals performance. Not necessarily because he's incredibly cold from the field or unwilling to pass the ball -- which neither are true -- but because of his constant nagging at refs and lack of playing winning basketball.
Evidently, Doncic, along with co-star Kyrie Irving, willed the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA Finals after posting the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference. Doncic played a huge role in getting the team in a position to compete for an NBA title. While there is room to criticize the Mavericks franchise player, there's plenty of his praises to be sung. The 25-year-old forward is a generational talent, and that can't be masked from his NBA Finals performance.Doncic has the Mavericks back in the NBA Finals for the first time since 2011, and he's had to piggyback the team until this point. Without him, there is no shot at a title this season.
With all the noise surrounding Doncic, two Boston Celtics legends and 2008 NBA Champions took to a podcast to share praise towards the Mavericks superstar. Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, on their showDoncic averaged 21.2 points per game as a rookie, and he's since averaged 28 points per game at minimum. After winning Rookie of the Year, Doncic has finished top-five in Most Valuable Player voting in all but one of those seasons.Both Pierce and Garnett understand the level of talent Doncic is.
While there is going to be a negative connotation around Doncic after the Mavericks eventually fall in the NBA Finals to the Celtics, he'll bounce back next season with MVP-level play and another very strong season.Kade has been covering a wide variety of teams ranging from the NFL to the NBA and college athletics since joining Sports Illustrated's FanNation in 2022.
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