Luka Doncic was already a lock for the ROTY of the Year award, but how much MORE of a lock would he be if had the opportunity to put “game winning poster dunk on national TV” on his resume? He could put it right between the bullet points that say “6 years experience playing Fortnite at a competitive level” and “Worked in a team environment to deliver NBA championship to employer”. It’s not like anyone checks those things anyway. So I guess he can put the line about the dunk on there if he wants.
It would’ve been true if Nikola Jokic hadn’t hit a stupid off-balance flip thing as the buzzer sounded. Sure, we can talk about how Doncic’s missed free throw after his dunk left the door open for the Nuggets to win, but it’s not his fault at all that Jokic made a dumb shot. 99 times out of 100, Jokic misses, the fans start throwing stuff on the court, and everyone remembers the heroics of Doncic, selflessly shattering his wrist into a million pieces to deliver a win for the Mavericks.
Dunks aside, I’m starting to worry that Doncic is in his own head a bit when it comes to free throws. He rebounded, in general, nicely from his awful game against the Rockets, almost getting a triple-double, but his foul shooting woes came back to haunt him. We already knew that he literally can not make the first one in a pair. We’ve known that since the beginning of the season. But now he can’t make the second either? That’s cause for concern. Is Dirk Nowitzki’s famous shooting coach still shooting and still coaching? Doncic can meet up with him right after he gets done meeting with Hakeem Olajuwon (his up-and-unders are good, but he needs more baby hooks).