Nba playoff, in game 7 Doncic drags Dallas against Phoenix and flies to the final in the West

It’s such an incredible victory that Luka Doncic had the same points at halftime as all the Suns, 27. So extraordinary that Dallas has long flirted with the biggest win in Game-7 history. So exceptional that it brings the Mavs back to the conference finals for the first time since 2011, the year of the only franchise title. “It was an extraordinary victory, I can’t get this smile off my face,” says Doncic. The enthusiasm of him is that of the Mavs, who in the decisive game of a series where so far the home team had always won they made a masterpiece, winning 123-90 in Phoenix and earning the series with Golden State from Wednesday for a place in the Finals . The Suns have chosen the most important game of the season to play their worst game: after a dominated regular season, playing at a much higher level than the others, they leave the scene already in the conference semifinals. With a heavy humiliation to digest.

NOT ONLY DONCIC

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Luka played a sensational match (35 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists), as often happens when the stage is so important. “I like this pressure, I like these matches, I like the idea that nobody believed in us – he says -. But I didn’t win alone, it was an incredible victory for a special team.” Dallas proved just that: to be special. She started aggressive, demolished the certainties of the Suns with an extraordinary defense, who closed the first half with 24.4% from the field. A matter of preparation, determination, of the enormous merits that coach Jason Kidd knows he deserves but prefers not to take: “We have many players in that locker room who believe in the concept of a team: this in NBA often translates into victories.” Spencer Diwniddie believes in it. , Doncic’s extraordinary first shoulder with 30 points, 13 of which in the second period in which he and Luka together made almost triple the points of Phoenix (28-10) Jalen Brunson believes in it, 24 points of which 22 in the second half. Reggie Bullock believes it, first responsible for Devin Booker’s horrible evening. Dallas now has no intention of stopping: “We didn’t set ourselves limits when we started the playoffs and we certainly don’t put them there now – says Dinwiddie -: we believe it, we want to win the next series too. ”

BLACKED

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The Suns have turned off the light. Unrecognizable, never able to do battle, to play as the team that had dominated the regular season, which had always put Dallas under the previous three games at the Footprint Center, which also booed Monty Williams’ players. Because this is a heavy blow, a match in which Phoenix was also down by 46. “I’m the captain of the ship, the responsibility is mine – says the coach -. We weren’t ready to play Game-7: we enjoyed the praise when it came, now we have to face the criticism ”. The Suns did all they could, with Chris Paul once again unable to lead the attack (“Physically I have nothing” is keen to reiterate) and Booker (11 points with 3/14 from the field) who never found the way to hold a candle to Doncic. On the worst night of the season there is also the DeAndre Ayton case, limited to 18 ‘for what Coach Williams defines as “internal reasons”. The situation of the center, whose contract was not renewed before the season, will be the first to be addressed if the Suns want to try again next year. Because this season, the one in which they started the playoffs as favorites after the best regular season in their history, they failed.

GARA-7

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The most important game of the series ends early: 27-17 Mavs at the end of the first quarter, 57-27 at the interval, with the 3 best pieces of the Suns (Booker, Paul and Ayton, who together score 6 points and 1/15 shooting , while cyclone Doncic rages with the help of Dinwiddie. The rest does not change things: Dallas dominates, Phoenix does not react. And so the series ended well before the 92-50 at the end of the third quarter.

Phoenix: Johnson 12 (1/2 from two, 2/4 from three, 4/4 free throws), Booker 11, Paul 10. Rebounds: McGee 6. Assists: Paul 4.

Dallas: Doncic 35 (6/8, 6/11, 5/5 tl), Dinwiddie 30, Brunson 24. Rimbalzi: Doncic 10. Assist: Doncic 4, Finney-Smith 4.