MINNEAPOLIS — All great players seem to have that magic when it matters: They become one with the ball, one with the moment, freeze everyone in the building and manipulate the game to their will.
It doesn't matter if Luka Doncic is guarded by the Defensive Player of the Year or some other less-than-skilled defender, sometimes things just happen in slow motion and no one else can stop them.
Doncic is used to the calm of the frenetic moments, fascinated by the feeling of stunning an arena, fascinated by building Luka's legend with each shot.
“I knew it was good. I knew it was good the moment it left his hands,” Dallas Mavericks rookie Derek Lively II said.
“I knew exactly what he was thinking, so it was time to set up for the magic to happen,” Mavs guard Kyrie Irving said.
“We talked about taking two. We only lost two, but when he started dancing [Rudy] “Gobert, we knew the step back was coming and the rest is history,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said.
Lively II set a screen to switch from Doncic to Timberwolves wing Jaden McDaniels, and Irving's shooting ability had to be respected, leaving Doncic with no space to thrive. Kidd called the play for Doncic but let his wizard work on his own.
Everyone contributed to this Doncic-orchestrated moment. On Friday night, his 3-pointer with three seconds left in the game gave the Dallas Mavericks a road victory in the Western Conference finals, taking a 2-0 lead with a 109-108 win over Dallas at Target Center.
Gobert seized the moment well, forcing Doncic to drive to the basket before alternating course for his trademark step-back.
“We switched to the pick-and-roll,” Gobert said, “I was in isolation and he made a big shot. I let the team down on the last play. They believed I was going to make the stop and he made a 3-pointer.”
Honestly, as powerless as Gobert was, there was nothing anyone wearing a Timberwolves jersey, or any kind of jersey, could do to stop the inevitable outcome on this night, as Doncic apparently has some kind of promise with history.
“I didn't have a pre-play decision in mind, I just took what the defense gave me,” Doncic said. “I was just going to play the pick-and-roll and see what I could do from there.”
Doncic was extremely low-key after the game but unfazed on the court, yelling abuse at Gobert and taunting the crowd after Naz Reid's final 3-pointer bounced off the rim. It was also a moment that stood still as Reid made seven 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 23 points to nearly halt the Timberwolves' upset.
“I don't know what I was thinking. I kind of blacked out,” Doncic said of Reed's shot sailing toward the rim of the goal.
The play capped a hard-fought 99 seconds in which the Timberwolves held a slim 108-103 lead, but then Irving made a 3-pointer that the officials called a turnover by McDaniels, and then Minnesota had another turnover, setting up Doncic's chance.
Doncic reflected on his game-winning goal against the Clippers in the Orlando bubble and his buzzer-beater shot the following season in Memphis, both of which were played in front of empty crowds because of the coronavirus pandemic.
He made a similar noise this time in front of a raucous crowd at Target Center. It was an incredible, inevitable moment, the cap of a 32-point, 13-assist, 10-rebound performance from a man steadily ascending to the status of the best player in the world.
Doncic seemed to be preparing for that moment all game long, even as Dallas seemed content with winning on the road and securing home-court advantage with its Game 1 victory.
Even down 18 points, Doncic was still in the game, playing a chess game with the Timberwolves' big men guarding the basket and manipulating the coverage with his eyes, allowing a player like Lively to make all six of his field goal attempts, almost entirely thanks to passes from Doncic.
Same for starting center Daniel Gafford, who made 8 of 10 field goals.
The Mavericks are two games away from reaching the NBA Finals, and for the first time since their surprising 2011 playoff run they can make that claim, and it's because they're playing with equal parts poise and urgency.
And the more you watch them play, the more Luka's magic becomes apparent. It's almost hard to resist calling them the team of today. In the first round, the Mavs beat the Clippers, who had urgency but were too old. In the final round, they beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, a team with youth and energy but waiting for tomorrow. Now they face a Timberwolves team that is a combination of the two, only they have outlasted them, outplayed them, and recognized their opportunities as today, not tomorrow.
“It's just the confidence and composure of the team,” Kidd said. “We could have hopped on the bus after Kai missed those two free throws, but we believe in our defense and we got the stops. A lot of credit to our bench guys for bringing that positive energy.”
Irving switched roles with Doncic in Game 1. After Irving scored the opening point, Doncic scored 15 points in the fourth quarter. It was Irving who was in top form on Friday, hitting four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter for 13 points, but surprisingly missed 3 of 4 free throws with just a few minutes left.
“I don't want to get fined, but I was like, 'Oh my God, what is going on?'” Irving said with a laugh. “A lot of emotions were going through my mind and I was disappointed for a second. The fans were going crazy. I guess they got free chicken?”
But that was all the fans took home as they left the arena.
Normally, in these circumstances, that enthusiasm would mean doom for the visiting team, but the Timberwolves are at an even higher altitude than they were at last round and have yet to catch their breath.
The Mavericks are stymied by 22-year-old Anthony Edwards, who is showing his age, completing just 11 of 33 passes through two games and failing to notice the swarms of players waiting for him when he gets in the lane.
The Mavericks' lob game kept Karl-Anthony Towns off the court for the final eight minutes. Towns struggled defensively and made just 4-of-16 shots in 25 minutes, and Timberwolves coach Chris Finch deployed Reed, the league's best sixth man, on offense. And Reed lived up to expectations.
But these games are rarely decided by the role players. It's usually the stars being stars that mark the difference between stars and superstars, superstars and supernovae.
There's a blazing supernova in Dallas, exploding once more with blazing bullets into the Minneapolis sky, raining down like purple rain.
