The basketball gods had the perfect script at play for the WCF Game 5. Considering his domination in road games, taking Game 4 in Dallas would’ve snubbed Luka Doncic of his chance to defeat the opposition in their home. He had a special performance in the pipeline and was ready to unveil it in the Wolves backyard. This feature of forcing the opposition fans to notice his on-court skills reminded Rachel Nichols of Reggie Miller.
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On a recent episode of UNDISPUTED, Nichols talked about the Luka Magic on display in Game 5. Thoroughly impressed by what she witnessed as a basketball fan, she said that the Slovenian is the answer to every question in basketball,
“To me, it wasn’t just that he was scoring but it was the way he was scoring.”
Doncic opened the game with a bang, scoring 12 points in the first three and a half minutes of the first quarter. He scored 36 points with 10 rebounds and five assists in the 124-103 win. Throughout his 37 minutes on the court, Nichols saw glimpses of Reggie Miller in the Mavs star. She added,
“He had a Reggie Miller-like attention to the Wolves themselves and to the crowd. We just saw it from him.”
While Nichols was impressed by the Slovenian “ball of fire”, she ridiculed Karl-Anthony Towns for another subpar performance as he missed his first four attempts from the deep.
“Luka had everything in his bag and a Reggie Miller-like attention. He’s a ball of fire.”
— @Rachel__Nichols pic.twitter.com/66yPDC1mg3
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) May 31, 2024
During his time in the NBA, Miller was notorious for taking shots at fans, particularly the Knicks’ army, during games. The impact of something that happened quite a lot in the 90s is still intact. During Game 2 vs the Pacers, the Knicks fans at the MSG were chanting, “Fu*k you, Reggie” at the top of their lungs as the NBA veteran was trying to do his broadcasting job from the arena.
Further, the Mavs have made their way through a difficult Western Conference, that too with a bang. Analyst Skip Bayless already predicted the domination of Doncic and Co.
Skip Bayless predicted the onslaught in the first quarter
Doncic setting the tone in the first quarter was a warning sign for the Wolves. By the end of the last quarter, they couldn’t muster up the courage to put forth a worthy challenge. On a recent episode of UNDISPUTED, Skip Bayless stated that he saw the game going away from the Wolves in the first quarter and even posted his thoughts online. He said,
“At the end of the first quarter, I tweeted exactly this, ‘Luka just said, THIS GAME IS MINE…Anthony Edwards just said, okay.”
“Luka said ‘This game is MINE.’ Anthony Edwards said ’Ok.’”@RealSkipBayless on the Mavs eliminating the T-Wolves in Game 5 pic.twitter.com/RsFYw5PU8N
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) May 31, 2024
Bayless was spot on with his prediction after the first 12 minutes of action. However, he seemed disappointed in Ant-Man as the Wolves star didn’t show up for his team in a home game. Per him, the Michael Jordan comparisons are nice for a while, but Ant needs to step up because he’s the only one who can get this Wolves team to a title win.
