Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic has a hilarious response when asked about the scar on his face, suffered during the opening minutes of the first quarter.
Advertisement
The Golden State Warriors pulled out all the stops at Luka Doncic, who was coming off red-hot beating the first seeded Phoenix Suns in the WC semi-finals. With Steve Kerr back post his COVID protocols, the Dubs would cruise to victory, taking a comfortable 1-0 lead in the WCF.
Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins did a phenomenal job of containing Luka Magic to 20-points, considering the Mavs guard was averaging close to 33-PPG against the Suns. Wiggins had an impressive performance on both sides of the court, despite guarding Doncic being his primary motive.
Andrew Wiggins:
19 pts
8-17 fg
3-8 3pt
5 reb
3 ast
1 stl
1 blk
+28 (team best)Also primary defender on Luka Doncic:
20 pts
6-18 fg
3-10 3pt
7 to
-30— Grant Liffmann (@GrantLiffmann) May 19, 2022
Andrew Wiggins on his mindset when guarding Luka Doncic:
“Make it tough for him. He’s a good player, so he’s going to make shots. He’s going to do his thing, but just stay on him and make it tough.”
— Mark Haynes (@markhaynesnba) May 19, 2022
Wiggins’ terrific defense left a “scar” on Doncic quite literally. A few minutes into the first quarter, Wiggins would unintentionally swipe Doncic on the face leaving a scar.
Here’s the play where Luka Doncic’s face was scratched by Andrew Wiggins 😬pic.twitter.com/cHplIbw3sA
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) May 19, 2022
Nonetheless, the Slovenia native didn’t make any hue and cry about it, having a humorous response when asked about it during the post-game press conference.
Luka Doncic addresses the scratch on his face.
It was a rough night for Doncic as the Mavs suffered a 112-87 blowout loss against the Warriors. The three-time All-Star was unable to get past Coach Kerr’s designed system of playing ball. It was a bumpy ride from the beginning, with Doncic suffering a painful scratch on the face a few minutes into the game.
Doncic was seen holding his shoulder in pain during junctures of the game on Wednesday but didn’t seem bothered about it. The former ROTY would address the media on the Mavs’ loss, commending the Dubs for doing a great job and admitting he needs to do a better job for the group.
“It’s good. Makes me look tough” – Luka on his scar pic.twitter.com/UQfSFpgqY3
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) May 19, 2022
Game One against the Warriors was Doncic’s worst career playoff performance. The 23-year-old was 33.3% from the field, including 30% from the 3-point line, and had 7-turnovers.
The Warriors held Luka to 16.7% on contested field-goal attempts 🔒
A career playoff-worst. pic.twitter.com/kbXsOtRKUK
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) May 19, 2022
Doncic had more turnovers (7) than field goals made (6) for the 1st time in his playoff career (24 games).