The Dallas Mavericks‘ Finals run has not gone the way they’d have hoped. Entering Game 1 with hope and confidence, Dallas looks like a shadow of the team that steamrolled the Western Conference. Currently down 3-0 in the series, Stephen A. Smith believes the blame for the Mavericks’ poor performance lies with only one man: Luka Doncic. The media veteran recently called the Slovenian out on the latest episode of First Take.
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The reason SAS went too harsh against Luka is because he sees him as the leader of the team. And as a leader, Luka was expected to slow down after he picked up the first few fouls. Stephen A. said that the third foul he picked while unnecessarily swiping at Derrick White out of frustration should have been his rude awakening. To everyone’s surprise, the Mavs star just kept on going after that point and ended up being ejected from the game with 4:12 left on the clock in the fourth quarter.
Stephen A. said, “Luka deserves most of the blame for this. It was a horrible performance. 27 points on 27 shots. But it wasn’t because of that, it was because of the level of selfishness and the lack of accountability. You are the superstar of the team, you’re supposed to be the leader of the team.”
The media veteran outlined an unbelievable stat that Luka has only shot 3-15 in the fourth quarter in the entirety of the series so far.
.@stephenasmith says Luka deserves "most of the blame" for the Game 3 loss.
"lt was because of the level of selfishness and the lack of accountability. … He's pointing the finger at everybody but himself." pic.twitter.com/BISK2BsyqY
— First Take (@FirstTake) June 13, 2024
Undoubtedly, this is poor from Doncic. But does he deserve to be blasted for the failure of his team? The thing that makes Luka an obvious target is that he is the face of the Mavs. If they were on a winning track, he’d have been the one getting all the praise. So, as part of the deal, he’s now getting torched for the loss. Luka’s Game 3 performance also plays a huge part in his criticism. Having fouled out with 4:14 left in the 4th quarter, Doncic registered just 26-6-6 on the night. His poor defensive performance and constant bickering with the officials left a sour taste in the mouths of a lot of analysts.
Stephen A. Smith had a different take on Luka Doncic a few days ago
When the Mavs entered the NBA Finals and the Celtics were going to be their opponent, majority of the NBA world believed that it would be a cakewalk for the Dallas franchise. Fans believed that the Celtics had reached the Finals out of sheer luck, and they would be dismantled by Luka’s Mavericks. Stephen A. was among the people who believed that Luka would be a lone wolf in the series and would end up winning the title by himself.
“Luka has been a one-man show and the Robin of that crew has not shown up,” he said on First Take. Making a complete U-turn on his “Robin” comment, recently he stated that Kyrie Irving has become the level-headed player on the team and that he is making the right calls. The Mavs have their last chance of redeeming themselves on Friday, if they don’t figure out the winning recipe at home, a clean sweep in the Finals will pop out like a blot on the Mavs players’ resume.
