Mavs advance to first NBA Finals since 2011, Luka Dončić finishes with 36 points | NBA | UNDISPUTED

Mavs advance to first NBA Finals since 2011, Luka Dončić finishes with 36 points | NBA | UNDISPUTED

what happened to them last night I uh that’s all I can say is I I’m what happened was Luca that’s literally what happened the game was over in the first quarter I don’t know how he got off to a start that they allowed him to get off to Luca scored 20 points in the first quarter the first quarter it felt like in the first couple of minutes go the first couple minutes if that’s what you want to you want to look at it and there was nothing you could do about it he was feeling it he was it was almost like he was at shoot around that’s what it that’s what it felt like looking did and you could tell his energy level was up from the last game not only that so we come out of the locker room and we’re going to feature Luca that’s what we gonna do we gonna give it to Luca but we come out of lock room in Minnesota we gonna give it to Rudy goar Luca Rudy like what that doesn’t even make any sense for him to even be able to touch the ball 7 eight times in a damn game let alone in a quarter so you lose that matchup right there alone so you so far behind to your point Rudy shot seven times in the first quarter he did make three of them for what that’s worth but Rudy go touching the basketball unless it’s a rebound I’m not posting him up at the start of the game to get my team my offense is not going through Rudy goar I’m sorry it’s just not and I don’t know why the Minnesota Tiber wolves even felt that way but then yet and still they switched their matchup from the last game defensively to this game all of a sudden they just they decided to take Ant-Man and put him on Kyrie again and just it it was weird inste but he was on Luca a good bit also yes but at the start of the game at the start of the game it was almost like they said said okay we’re going to let Luca get hot and get going opposed to rattling his cage and trying to Rattle his cage so to speak because we know what he’s been on we know what he’s been on the road and he obviously displayed that again last night but you asked the question what happened to him that’s what happened I mean there’s no other way about it okay there’s no we could say all day long Antman should have done more this that and the other there’s nothing he could do because that dude was on fire he just if he would have played the entire stretch the entire game cuz what did he sit out the last quarter basically and what if he have played the whole game might have had 60 points so there’s nothing you can do you lose right there that’s just a you just lose nothing else to be said he wins we lose so how disappointed were you in the Timberwolves initial effort I I didn’t get disappointed initial effort till you it real I realized that would down by 36 at one point I think it was mhm that’s when I got early third I’m like because in the beginning okay so you down by whatever it was 13 14 whatever the points was at that time I wasn’t I was like okay they got two and a half quarters left they’ll be fine but when you get to that 30 something Mark yeah and they couldn’t miss you’re like oh man and you can tell that ant-man’s frustration with his teammates he’s pointing at him he’s side eying him you can just tell and then I’m disappointed in cat like I just the the entire that if that’s supposed to be Championship caliber basketball it wasn’t displayed Rachel it just wasn’t yeah nothing else to say Luca is the answer to every question it was the answer and he scored 12 points in the first three and a half minutes to get to your beginning of the game ridiculous and to me it wasn’t just that he was scoring it was the way he was scoring all everything in his bag as we say and he had a Reggie Miller like attention to the Wolves themselves and to the crowd we just saw it from him that I want to strangle you I’m G to talk back to you he was talking back to Snoop Dogg and Jimmy Jam after what a third of the baskets that he made there I mean he was he was incredible and that confidence we’ve seen it before where he literally is just sort of a ball of fire around the court uh 2022 against the Phoenix Suns he did had one of these games he’s capable of this this is who he is who he was when he came into the league and the whole team played great right the Mavericks played great team defense we talked about the importance of Derek Lively yesterday on the show and obviously him being back was huge for them you know he he 100% from the floor which of course you know he’s making baskets from two feet away but it’s important for them to get those points he finishes Luca’s lobs and then defensively just really changes the elasticity of what they can do on that team on the other side and maybe this is partly because the Mavs did play great defense the Wolves were just abandoned by their offense Rudy goar taking seven shots in the first quarter you don’t want to lead with him that’s not what you want right and if you look at their overall shooting numbers in the first half 34% from the field 16.7% from three you can’t have that in a game where you are fighting for your lives cat missed his first four three-pointers it it’s just that is that is not how you play if you want to be in it and they just weren’t ever in it it yeah it’s crazy if there was such a thing as a six-point uh shot Luca made one he crossed half court shot the ball it went in I was like yes over it did it just you know how they talked about obviously got the three then they talked about the four-point potentially once upon a time and then you move it back even further it’s like a six-point shot by the way Kyrie matched him in points I mean that’s what you know kind of got lost in Luca’s Transcendent performance yeah is that Kyrie was right along with him with 30 plus points Kyrie gave you 15 in the second quarter and the game was way over by halftime because it’s 69- 40 because Luca had 25 at halftime and Kyrie had 19 at halftime and both Anthony and cat had 12 and 12 well that’s it it’s just game over you got wiped off your own home court and you would normally take them 24 points by two guys at half time would take that 44 by the two other guys okay so at the end of the first quarter I tweeted exactly this Luca just said this game is mine all caps Anthony Edwards just said okay because that’s what he did he just said okay I again he is it for them and I’m I’m this is all in in complimentary perspective here because he’s a very special kid he has played four years of professional basketball in the NBA he’s now played 26 playoff games but they go as he goes it’s as simple as that and I maybe I’m heaping too much on him but he’s at the next face of the league and we’ve had many Jordan comparisons just in in athletic ability we see flashes glimpses of look at that dunk look at that move but he is that team he made that team what it was because that team wasn’t much without him because nobody else on that team really believed in that team I don’t trust Carl Anthony towns in the biggest moments because I’m just not sure about him I’m definitely never sure about Rudy goar in the biggest moments the the rest of them are all okay that they’re all pretty good I love Mike connley but he’s not he’s like 510 and it’s just hard for him to take a game over he played about as well as you could expect him to play but in the end they have one nuclear potential weapon they have one key differen maker they have one kid who has had the kesan like guts to step up and say no we got this we got this we got this we’re going back and I’m going to take Michael Parson’s back a new pair of ae1 fed well now you’re going to have to Fed okay all right he’s going to have to just make do with his original pair right okay but the point is he talked a lot but I think deep down he knew he had to talk a lot because he had to send messages not to the other team but to his team had to write checks that his team had to to try to cash with him and yet and still given all that I was shocked that he came out lower energy last night that that’s all I know he he was lower energy and lower urgency than I expected he picked it up a little bit in the second half though he he actually if you look at his cross theboard numbers they’re they’re pretty good he he played pretty well I’m just talking about the tone setting first five minutes of that game but they g a B to Rudy go for whatever reason okay well that’s that’s on they also you got to give credit to Jason kid and his staff they wouldn’t allow him to get downhill soon as he touched the ball they doubled him they trapped him every single time they get the ball out of his every once in a while you just got got to get but you can’t when you trap skip he tried it multiple times and it almost was catastrophic to a turnover you know so at the end he’s getting the ball he’s doing what he’s supposed to do as a basketball player get the ball out your hands thing they tried to do to Luca in the game Luca’s bigger taller than him so Luca’s able to make that pass but they were trying to trap luuka after he went off on him Luca hunts his spots that’s one of the elite things about him no matter what defense is being played he knows how to get to where he KN he can get he knows where to get where he can get to hit his shots Anthony Edwards is still working on that he is taking what the defense gives him that is a good overall strategy but when you are as Elite as he is going to be when you are the center of your team’s offense you have to be more aggressive and he will learn that yeah I would have like to see him shoot I would have liked to have seen him shoot the Timberwolves out the game 18 shots is not enough for me I would have lik to have seen him just like I said the other day just shoot the basketball man what they gonna say to you when you see Luca doing what he’s doing early you just have to say I have to match this I got to go I just got to go I I maybe if I miss I miss but I got to start to shoot maybe that is something to do with the experience and the youth that he has to understand at that moment in time I just got to take over and I got to just be a hot dog and shoot the basketball regardless there’s a real question though of how to build around him in the future he’s going to get better he is on a huge trajectory he’s going to get better he’s going to get stronger all of those things are going to happen for him but how do you build this team around him so to your point skip he’s the only engine right now offensively really decent they have dudes they have decent offensive numbers throughout the season I mean NZ Reed was the Sixth Man of the Year he was but again you’re not counting you’re not counting on your Sixth Man of the Year to be the engine of your offense and I don’t know if they can keep Nas Reed so here’s where the wolves are in terms of what the future is for Anthony Edwards and how they can build around him and make him a contender they are already committed to 20 million over the salary cap even if they fill out the rest of the roster with minimum players they’re getting to about 200 right so $200 million payroll that’s 70 million in luxury tax Glenn Taylor who has owned the wvs for 30 years in that entire time has played 25 million in luxury tax total over 30 years so he’s not looking to spend 70 million this year we don’t know if he’s going to retain ownership of the team but the you know in other words he’s cheap there’s a lot of factors coming in here they’ve got ants and Jen McDaniel’s extensions kicking in this summer go bear is about to be extension eligible Mike connley as you pointed out is a smaller guard 36 years old nod Reed is set to become a free agent in 2025 and even if they kept this team together somehow and were willing to pay the luxury tax bill they don’t quite seem to have enough right to be a title Contender Denver is going to get back to being better next year they’re going to fill out that bench Dallas is obviously a force Oklahoma City is going to be better next year so there is a real question when you have what became evident in these playoffs a Transcendent talent in Anthony Edwards how are you going to help him flourish so this doesn’t happen to him again you go get you go get another guy who are you getting rid of and who are you getting everybody wants to go get another guy teams we talk about you go get another guy there’s another guy that’s floating around out there somewhere that fits what they are doing we’re just not thinking about it yet cuz all we think about is the star star names but there’s a guy right like I don’t know just even though he just moved on to Memphis but I’ll just use the name like a Markus smart just a guy that’s that’s really good that could contribute and do some stuff there’s somebody out there there’s somebody you can’t possibly tell me like for instance like the Lakers went got a three-point shooter like a Gabe vinon there’s somebody out there that can help this young man because he is the only engine and when you look at situations like this you feel sorry for players that you know has a they got a lot of potential but the other guys are kind of holding them back to a degree because they’re not following or living up to the same values that this individual is living up to but if you what they need is a scoring point card they got find somebody if you go get another guy you’ve got to trade someone off the team Carl Anthony towns is the most likely suspect for that with just the way the contracts work out and to your point his inconsistency yeah but he’s being paid Max money for the next four years so you have to find someone willing to take that on he fit he also could fit with somebody else that already has some pieces in play that may work for Carl Anthony towns look that could all come together you but it will be very hard so as we talk about Anthony Edwards and we look at his future I have zero doubt that he’s going to become an even better much better player than he is at 22 years old the experience the physical development the stamina I think that he’s going learn to incorporate into his training so many other things being more aggressive getting to his spots all of that I have full confidence he is going to flourish and be able to pull off he’s a hard worker he’s a great defender but you have to have a team around you we’ve seen guys in the NBA sort of you know flounder because they couldn’t quite get there with their team we saw that happen to Luca for years in Dallas they didn’t quite have the team around him that he needed and so ant can carry them very far this is obviously an elite defensive team as it’s built now now but it doesn’t seem like when we’ve watched them go through the West despite that one game game seven in Den that they have what it takes to get out of the West given who else is in the conference right now although and i’ like to see they’re closer you think they just ran into the wrong guy or guys at the wrong time but you going to run into that a lot okay but these two guys are very special I know Stan Van Gundy went all the way to the most talented backward Duo ever best in do however they set at a couple of points but just for the record when Anthony did guard Luca last night in the first half Luca went four out of five and made three threes on him just for the record because he was he was on one because he had decided this night is going to belong to me so very quietly these Dallas Mavericks with no homecourt advantage in any series that they’ve played so far actually have had court advantage because of Luca and to a certain extent Kyrie because they both play much better on the road than they play at home Luca has turned into and I’ve been beating this over the head day after day he has become the ultimate Road Warrior and he need it’s almost jordan-esque the way he’s picking somebody out in the crowd there was somebody sitting down in the inzone seats behind Snoop some fan was waving a hanky like saying crybaby crybaby and there was a point I think we we yeah he’s yelling at him crybaby and at one point Luca went and one it was when they were about to I think they went up 36 at this point in the third quarter okay they they got a they they got a look I mean they they good there’s no question about it but they did get a break too though the Mavericks yes absolutely think about think about their road to the final they played the Clippers minus kawhai yep okay and okay I’ll give you that they play OKC with one guy one guy but Oka city did win the West over 82 games they won the west but OKC is facing the same sort of issues although they’re younger than Minnesota yeah as Ant-Man that’s it chat I mean come on I mean but Oklahoma City goes down to one bad idea one bad foul by sh Gil just or we’re going to game seven in also but we also can look at Minnesota situation to say every single game was close except last night okay but but but all I’m saying is these teams really didn’t OKC didn’t have a two-headed monster and neither did neither Al I’m going to say this again Kyrie stood up right after they closed him out in game six and said that was the toughest series I’ve ever played in that may be true but OKC couldn’t score even match with Luca in in Kyrie they just couldn’t just like Minnesota well they couldn’t they didn’t have to face Denver which I do think matters right and they didn’t face a team as deep as the Celtics which we’ll talk about and that’s not their fault I’m just pointing out that you know it’s very hard when you got two dudes scoring whatever they scored 70 some points to a guy that’s all by himself right but key that’s the point that’s the point you want to be the elite team that’s better than everyone else it doesn’t mean that your road was easy they got rid of three of the top four seats the point is that when you are an impressive team gone your way to the finals with at least a chance to win it you are supposed to better a better roster with more Talent Ed players with the best player in the series that is how you win and get to the finals I do think that they have not faced anyone as tough as the Celtics team that they’re about to face but I would not say that they had a cakewalk it it’s not a cakewalk it’s easier it’s an easy when I looked at it I’m I’m looking at it and I’m saying you you face a OKC young team with Shay you’re not really we manufactured a whole bunch of the other players that was hitting shots we wanted them to be but they the nbao shoo no you don’t get it they it and then they get to that level and all of a sudden Isaiah Joe can’t find the basket yeah because they’re in the playoffs now and they’re young and it’s a different situation you didn’t run in to her point to Rachel’s Point not her but to Rachel’s point you didn’t run in Denver you ran into a young team with took you all the way down to game six maybe could have forced a game seven to the point where they didn’t know what was going on but that same team we just watched last last night lose at home without huge effort and energy I think they were satisfied with not getting SW based on the way they were I watched that team beat Denver by 45 points on that floor by 45 different matchup man it’s a different matchup it wasn’t easy they got bigs that came to play they didn’t come to play against Dallas the way they did against you want to know the truth there’s no matchup for Luca right now there’s no match up correct but we’ll see we’ll see you cuz they getting ready to see you’re not sold yet you got to see more right no no I’m s on his ability I’m s on his ability you know what got me about Luca he sat on the Inside the NBA set last night after the game and he doesn’t have much to say he’s all Shucks G whiz for the most part but what got me was the visual of him sitting next to Shaquille O’Neal and as Rachel knows you both know he is a huge human being big guy so is Luca I was sitting there looking how they compared in size shs that lost a little bit here recently but he looks great he looks great but he’s still a huge and Luca is Hu in stature in girth wi really wide no it’s what it’s what lets him bully his way to where he wants to go bullies he bullies but he has first step quickness where nobody can keep him out of the lane and I’m I’m like dumbfounded by it because I think let’s see you can’t really jump I’m not even sure you can dunk he know he know he know he can’t dunk on people like that but he knows how to get to his spots everything ain’t full speed he gauges how he should get there right he dribbles he lets somebody get on his back he accelerates he slows down he moves to the left moves to the right that’s just how he is so he knows where to get to how to get there and that’s all experience that’s playing overseas for a long period of time as a kid all of those sort of things you don’t necessarily see that with guys coming from college straight to the pros he was up against remember Minnesota did lead the league in defense for what it’s worth they did and Jaden McDaniels made second Team all defense and he’s 69 in Long trouble had three early files but but every time I’m looking at either Ant-Man or Jaden McDaniels on Luca Luca toys with him he’s dribble dribble dribble and all of a sudden there’s one quick step and I’m I think he got a step on him and he’s in the lane and he gets him on their but on his but you know he’s been playing professional basketball since he was 13 years old he has been in a professional basketball training like physical strength and training program since he was 13 years I you see I couldn’t tell but whatever you know like I I can’t I don’t see any he’ll never have he’ll never have a muscle show up in his that’s just not his body type well and he’s grown man strength man yeah he’s strong he just not you’re not going to see any definition in his arms his leg just that’s not who he is hey he he’s got coldblooded basketball killer in him especially I like him he could come and play for us oh boy oh so that’s where you’re angling he he’s not coming to LA but you know I’m saying by the way when you said you need to go find a guy well they just went out and found this guy Kyrie they they wouldn’t did that kind of I’m talking that was a huge risk and Kyrie to his credit paid it off but everyone’s looking your team risk for who though Rachel ke your team is looking for a guy I understand but when you say risk risk for who the Spurs are looking for a guy and a bunch of those teams have more assets than the te but explain to me before he pays these bills risk for who they gave up a lot for Kyrie and by the way I’m ni if I’m Contra if I’m ni he could have walked last summer yeah but there’s a you you you have conversations and and have relationships yes he did they did but he did test the free agent market last yeah but you tested to what the Lakers you going to go sit Courtside with us and hopefully you can come with LeBron I’m just that ain’t really testing it it was a risk it was a gutsy move by Nico and Kyrie gets a lot of credit for paying it off thanks for watching Undisputed fans do you want more highlights from the show make sure to click that subscribe button for all the exclusive content from Undisputed

The Dallas Mavericks have eliminated the Minnesota Timberwolves with a 124-103 Game 5 win. Luka Dončić finished with 36 points, while Anthony Edwards had 28 with nine rebounds and six assists. They will face the Boston Celtics in their first NBA Finals since 2011. Skip Bayless, Rachel Nichols and Keyshawn Johnson react to the Mavs’ big win.

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Mavs advance to first NBA Finals since 2011, Luka Dončić finishes with 36 points | NBA | UNDISPUTED

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