After the Mavericks lost Game 3 of the NBA Finals 106-99, Dallas' superstar Luka Doncic had his defense criticized to the point where it's exceeding the criticism he should be receiving. He hasn't been very good on the defensive end of the floor in this series, but the Mavericks wouldn't have even sniffed The Finals if not for the play of Doncic and he has a lot of responsibilities on the offensive end.
Former Dallas Maverick JaVale McGee, who played with Doncic in the 2022-23 season, was brought onto the "Pat McAfee Show" to discuss Doncic's defense.
READ MORE: Mavericks' Luka Doncic Details NBA Finals Experience: 'I'm Going to Learn from it'
"Everybody in the league knows Luka isn't the best defensive player," Mcgee said. "But at the same time, no one cares about Luka's defense because he'll go and give you 50 [points]... This is the only series where it really shows up because Boston, everybody's playing defense. So is it gonna be 5-on-5 or is it gonna be 5-on-4 when Dallas is on defense and that's a problem Luka is going to have to figure out. He's either gonna have to really lock up on defense man-to-man, or he's going to have to figure out how, he knows he's going to get blown by, how to think and get to where he needs to be when he gets blown by. And Dallas is going to figure out how to help him in the most manageable way."
McGee had two different stints with the Mavericks, first in the 2015-16 season where he played in just 34 games, and again in the 2022-23 season. On both occasions, he had signed a multi-year contract and was waived after just one season as he wasn't particularly impactful in either stint.
Doncic's defense is far from the biggest reason the Mavericks are losing this series. Outside of Doncic, and Kyrie Irving in Game 3, no one has shown up offensively. P.J. Washington had a solid Game 2, but he hasn't been someone a team can consistently rely on to score. Dereck Lively II also had a solid Game 3 with Boston missing Kristaps Porzingis, but Washington, Derrick Jones Jr., Tim Hardaway Jr., Josh Green, Jaden Hardy, and Maxi Kleber are a combined 5/24 (20.8%) from three in this series. That's not good enough against a team as good as Boston, who has had their own shooting struggles in this series.
No matter the result of Game 4 on Friday night, Dallas has had a tremendous season that their fans will remember for years to come. Once Doncic is allowed to heal properly from the knee injury he's been dealing with throughout the postseason, I'm sure he'll do whatever he can this offseason to improve his defense.
READ MORE: Jason Kidd's Coaching Decisions Called Into Question After Mavericks' Game 3 Loss
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Former Dallas Maverick Gets Real About Luka Doncic's Defense in NBA Finals - Sports Illustrated
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