I’m sitting here in abject confusion right now. The Dallas Mavericks, who are, at best, an okay NBA team, and are often much worse than that, just beat the Golden State Warriors (who remain favorites for chip) by 35 points. 35 friggin’ points. That sentence is so offensive to me that I could barely force my fingers to type it. I feel like I slipped into a parallel dimension where the Mavericks never stopped being a powerhouse after their title run and the Warriors never ascended into relevancy.
Luka “Lukadris” Doncic gets a large amount of credit for the win. Not only did he hit some tough shots early to put the Warriors into a funk, but he was diming up teammates who were doing the same. The first few minutes of this game were an onslaught of hot Doncic action which the Warriors had no hope to overcome. Then the hot Doncic action continued in the second and third quarters, to which the Warriors responded by rolling over and dying on their home floor. When my utter confusion lifts and I’m able to think clearly again, I will fantasize about creating a smoothie with a mixture of Warriors bandwagoner tears, Kevin Durant’s bald spot, and a serving of Doncic’s…okay, forget that last thing. Just the tears and the bald spot will be enough for a delicious smoothie.
Is it appropriate to speculate how insane of a statline Doncic would have put up if he had been allowed to run roughshod over the scrub lineups that the Warriors played in the fourth quarter? I’m thinking 35/15/15 with two or three additional stepback threes.