To say that Luka Doncic has had a scorching start to the season would be an understatement at this point. On Saturday, the Dallas Mavericks superstar unleashed his full wrath on the Portland Trail Blazers, as Luka led the Mavs to a hard-fought 117-112 win over Damian Lillard and Co.
After witnessing Doncic's greatness first-hand, Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups had nothing but high praise for the Mavs guard:
“He’s the toughest cover,” Billups said, via Grant Afseth of FanNation. “He’s the toughest cover in the league. You can prepare for scorers, prepare for bigs. He’s all of those things in one.”
The Blazers clearly did all they can to prepare for their matchup against Luka, but it seemed like it didn't even matter much. Doncic exploded for 42 points against Portland on 13-of-22 shooting, to go along with 13 rebounds, 10 assists, two steals, and a block in 38 minutes of play. Simply put, the Blazers simply had no answer for him.
Luka's masterful display also drew quite a confession from Billups, who revealed that Doncic is the type of player that prevents him from getting a good night's rest:
“He’s a tough prep and he keeps you up at night with some of the things he does out there,” Billups said. “But his usage, you know he’s going to have the ball the whole time — the whole shot clock pretty much.
“So yeah, he’s definitely a tough cover.”
Luka Doncic has been on an absolute tear in his first 12 games of the campaign. The Mavs star is staking his claim for this year's MVP title behind early-season averages of a league-best 34.3 points on 49.6 percent shooting, 8.7 rebounds, 8.1 assists, 2.0 steals, and 2.3 triples per contest.
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