How are Legends Made? See Doncic, Luka v Clippers...

It was May 16, 1980. The Los Angeles Lakers were playing against Julius Erving and the Philadelphia 76ers in the sixth game of the NBA Finals. Regular season MVP Kareem Abdul Jabbar had led the Lakers to 60 wins during the regular season, on a loaded squad that also featured star forward Jamaal Wilkes, guard Norm Nixon, defense standout Michael Cooper and the first overall pick in that year’s draft, Magic Johnson… but in this game, Jabbar was sidelined with a sprained ankle.

Paul Westhead — a replacement for Head Coach Jack McKinney after a bicycle accident — pulled the 6’9” rookie over and gave him an interesting assignment. Johnson would play in the middle, replacing the legend, against the Sixers that night. Magic went out and scored 42 points, pulled down 15 boards and still found time to hand off 7 assists in an epic performance that began the Laker’s run as “Showtime”, one of the great offensive basketball teams of all time.

June 13, 1997, in the United Center in Chicago. Buzz in the locker room is that Michael Jordan was sick, and had thrown up. Facing the strong Utah team of Stockton and Malone, Jordan was seen hunched over, a towel over his head, looking all the world like a man searching for a place to lay down. Game starts, and Jordan gets off to a slow start, seemingly out of sorts as the Jazz take a 23-17 point lead in the first. By halftime, Jordan seemed to improve some, but Utah was grinding it out, and held a 43-36 point lead in the locker room.

The second half, Jordan came fully to life. The Bulls pulled off a 90-86 victory, and Jordan ended up with 39 points, 11 boards and 4 assists as Chicago won the series 4 games to 2. The legend of Jordan was secured, at least until Netflix entered the picture and gave everyone more to consider…

Both of those games were the concluding games of the NBA season, and as such deserve special places in NBA lore. Those two performances are often discussed among the great individual playoff games of all time, and the players became two of the best ever. For the Lakers, that championship spawned a golden era in basketball, as the two coasts — LA and Boston — set the tone for classic confrontations and drama. For the Bulls, that was their second of six championships, establishing Jordan and his team as one of the great dynasties of sports.

On August 23, 2020, in a weirdly artificial setting at Disneyland, the Mavericks lined up against the LA Clippers down two games to one. Their star player, Luka Doncic, had rolled his ankle in the previous game and been unable to return; replays of the injury were the usual gruesome visage of an ankle bent in ways that it’s not able to bend. Reports were mixed on whether or not he would be able to go, and with the Clippers heavy favorites, the first round looked like a nice experience for the young team, and a chance to gain a little bit of playoff edge.

When it was announced that Luka’s running mate, Kris Porzingis, would be unable to go because of a sore knee, the writing was on the wall. Luka came out to start the game with the knowledge that an uphill climb was more than a little steeper. The Mavericks fell behind by 21 early, and the sportswriters were finishing off their stories early.

Then, Luka Doncic, sore ankle and all, had one of those games. The stat line was something out of a video game — 43 points, 17 boards, 13 assists for only the third 40 point, 15 rebound, 10 assist triple double in playoff history — but in a lot of ways, the game was better than even those gaudy numbers. Consider that Doncic’s defense, the one area where a bum ankle would be unforgiving, was better than I’ve seen it in any game this year. A pair of steals and a block were nice, but his focus, his footwork and his effort were extraordinary.

Consider, too, that Luka played 45 of the game’s 53 minutes, and was at his best in the overtime period when he should have been shot. Pictures of trainers working feverishly on his ankle early in the fourth quarter seemed a harbinger of limitations, but adrenaline is a heck of a medicine, and Luka was pumping. In the game’s last 50 seconds Luka scored the last 7 Maverick points; hitting a floating jumper, a diving layup and then, of course, the shot that you’ll be seeing for the next decade from deep to win the game as the clock expired.

Take out your thesaurus, and pick out your own adjectives… mine are used up.

Here are some more impressive pieces. Unlike Jordan, who played up his illness some, Doncic gave an interview in the aftermath where he spoke over again about how much he loves his team, how great they all were. When pushed about his ankle, Doncic raved about the trainers. No excuse, no pause for effect, no false limp afterwards.

Doncic was nails, and the rest of the league knows not only his talent, but that it comes with a gamer’s heart. Rick Carlisle, asked about Luka and his ankle, referred to his prodigy as a “bad man”, in affection and with a bit of awe. The false meme about European players lacking toughness was already DOA when Dirk lost his front teeth against San Antonio, and came back out of the locker room like a tiger, but if there were any out there that hadn’t gotten the news, Luka stamped it on their forehead.

The weaknesses in Luka’s game — his free throws and before tonight, his defense on the perimeter — are going to be addressed. The softness that appears in his body will be gone soon, replaced with a power that is already evident inside, and will grow with maturity. His shooting the occasional air ball (he floated two horrific ones today) is an occupational hazard; I remember Magic tossing the ball into the front row more than a few times, and Jordan clanking his share. What will not go backwards is the head, the heart and the soul of a basketball player, one that was absolutely born to play this game, and one that — if we’re very lucky — will keep healthy and hungry for many, many more years.

This was a game for the ages, offered by a just 21 year old freak, and like the other great games there is every chance that it is the beginning of a decade of special hoop dreams for Dallas and for fans of the sport. Remember this: Dallas was, by many different metrics, the best offensive basketball team in NBA history this year. Imagine if / when they grow up; imagine when they realize what they are, and what they might become.

Sweet dreams are made of this.