NBA Finals: Luka Doncic reminded how hard it will be to finish job vs. Celtics as comeback bid falls short

BOSTON — There was a brief flash of a moment in the third quarter of Game 1 of the NBA Finals here when it seemed, just maybe, that Luka Doncic alone might beat the Boston Celtics all by himself. 

And that perhaps this whole winning-a-ring thing wouldn’t be too hard after all for the Dallas Mavericks superstar.

He hit a marvelous step-back 3. What had been an ugly Celtics blowout was now a 13-point game. Then a Doncic steal, the ball finding its way to Kyrie Irving, who hit a pretty fadeaway. Eleven-point game. Then, less than a minute later, Doncic hit another step-back 3. Now the lead was just eight points, and that Celtics 29-point lead from the first half seemed so long ago. That boisterous Boston Garden mass of confident fans that had been rocking and laughing and flaunting seemed to be shrinking and vanishing and fading.

Behind me, the boisterous Celtics fan who had been all cockiness and surety in the first half broke the silence. “F— no,” he said. “Doncic.”

At 25 years old, Donic is years younger than the men he will likely compete with for titles, trophies and glory. There’s only so much hardware to go around, of course, only so many rings one can win. His good friend Nikola Jokic has a title and three MVPs. Giannis has one and two, respectively. Joel Embiid has not yet won a Finals, or been to one, but does own an MVP. 

Luka has none of those things, yet, but in that glorious burst of his greatness Thursday night, under the swaying ferocity of Celtics green, it seemed he was well on his way. 

Perhaps his time was now. Perhaps there was an inevitably to this quest. Perhaps even a 29-point deficit to this deep, dangerous, hungry Celtics team was no obstacle.

Then, reality.

After Jaylen Brown made one of two free throws, and the Celtics now nine-point lead felt somehow like a 10-point deficit, Doncic pulled down the rebound, pushed the ball up the floor, and again it found its way into Iriving’s capable hands.

A 3-point shot. A shot to cut the lead to six. A chance to steal this game, this series, to turn it all…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-finals-luka-doncic-reminded-how-hard-it-will-be-to-finish-job-vs-celtics-as-comeback-bid-falls-short/

Author : Bill Reiter

Publish date : 2024-06-07 07:14:22

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