FIRST TAKE | “Luka Doncic join for All-Time NBA GREAT” – Stephen A.: Mavericks will win NBA title

FIRST TAKE | “Luka Doncic join for All-Time NBA GREAT” – Stephen A.: Mavericks will win NBA title

from the GetGo last night 20 points in the first quarter the Mavericks run away with the clinching game against the Wolves Advanced to the NBA finals Luca finishing with a playoff high 36 for the postseason Brian windhorse was there and he gave a very clear picture of that first quarter this morning on first take let me set the scene here in Minneapolis what it was like yesterday okay it was a beautiful day spring is here all the leaves are out this is what you wait for Minnesota for all the winter months okay the wolves are 3 and0 this year in elimination games all right the last time they played in elimination game here in Minnesota they beat the Nuggets by 45 points okay hey Chris Finch makes This brilliant adjustment to put ant Edwards on Luca donic Luca doesn’t handle it real well in game four for two days everybody including me is going maybe maybe this switch has something going everybody shows up in white Molly there was some men wearing white jeans last night that really shouldn’t have been doing it but they were so excited about it they already had their plans for the weekend okay Saturday all day was going to be at the pool was going to be at the Lakehouse and Saturday night they were going to watch the wolves go into Dallas and play for the series in game six okay that’s what Luca walked into and five or eight minutes into that game when he hit that four three-pointer and Minnesota had to call another timeout and he already had 17 points and Minnesota only had eight as a team and he was screaming the only sound in that building was Luca screaming he broke them he broke the fans he broke the game operations he broke the spirit and he broke everybody’s plans on Saturday night he did it all and he did it in no time and man was it amazing to watch yeah excellent job by Wendy and it was just it was incredible to watch Luca donic and Jason Tatum both lead their teams in many categories points rebounds and assists just the fifth and sixth players to actually do that in the shot clock era and this is the first time that multiple players have done it in the same year now we get these two facing off in the finals by the way the first player ever to do it Luca’s current head make that piece because it puts it in perspective and he said I’ll be back and and you know Ant-Man will be back it’s by far the least that we’ve seen of him but legs was humiliating last night I mean the Wolves won their first six playoff games they went three and seven the rest of the way what do they need to address going forward yeah look I think what what they were uh dealt with last night was a sobering reality of how hard it is to win a championship and there’s a lot of really good teams in the Western Conference teams that have young Stars so Minnesota’s going to go into the season Hannah as a title Contender that would be the case even if they stood Pat based on this playoff run but they do need to improve the margins of their roster I think two things stand out to me I think you need to add a little bit more consistent Big Time deep shooting because I think there’s got to be other ways to play and different looks that you can give teams around Anthony Edwards by spacing the floor with guys that maybe are a little bit more of a specialist and maybe don’t could do quite what some of their forwards do now defensively but they give you that threat offensively to help spread the floor and then the second thing I think they need to look at their point guard position in terms of a backup Mike connley had a very big impact dramatic impact on this team he was a veteran that helped set the table and organize them a big game player but they didn’t really have another point guard in their rotation everybody else are sort of ball handling two guards or ball handling forwards I think you need a point guard with size to back up Mike connley so I think those will be the two areas of need that I would look at but don’t the Stars just have to play better I mean you have cat you have Ant-Man they combined to shoot 38% in those losses in the Western Conference Finals 10% lower in the regular season no matter what you put around them those guys got it said the match up is set good morning everyone welcome into first take thank you for being with us on this Feelgood Friday Kendrick Perkins Brian windhorse Stephen A Smith I’m Molly carum hi everybody what’s up what’s up how y’all doing amazing amazing let’s get right into it guys Western Conference Finals MVP LCA donic and the Mavericks buried the Wolves 124 103 last night to reach the NBA Finals donic scored 21 of his 36 points in the first quarter and Dallas built a 29-point halftime lead the largest at the break by a team that had a chance to clinch a finals trip in NBA history Luca is special that’s for sure man I I was enjoying it just like everyone else was uh he had 20 points I think in like 6 minutes or seven minutes and you’re just watching a special performance take place it’s a good feeling man I can’t lie uh just go out there and you know it’s us again them uh just stay together uh but that feeling that feeling is great well he took the crowd out of the game right off the bat um and he let his teammates know that it’s time you know that we got to take it up a not you know as a leader that’s what you need on the road uh against a very talented team uh to let them know that it was going to be hard tonight and he he definitely did that Stephen A how impressive was Luca’s performance oh it was a sensational performance it was um it was the kind of performance that that that comes associated with alltime greatness it’s one for the books uh we’re never going to forget what we saw in the in in in the Western Conference Finals from Luca last night there’s no question about it because let’s call it what it is you start the series off with with Anthony Edwards mistakenly calling out just making a big time Mistake by calling out Kyrie Irving basically saying I got him I got him okay so you know you have to pay for that ear early in game one when Kyrie came out Ultra aggressive and took it to him uh but you know they learned from the era of their ways they down o three they come back they win game four Anthony Edwards and call Anthony Town show up and you were expecting them to come out energized and ready to go but then I knew there was cause to PA and there was a reason for trepidation because that damn jayen McDaniels opened his mouth talking about how they could win three straight and all of this other stuff and you know how Luca really didn’t do anything special and then Luca went out and bust their living ass that’s really what happened we going to call this what it is that was an ass whipping right there he listen he had 12 points in the first two minutes and 53 seconds of the game he had 12 points okay he outscored Minnesota by himself in the first quarter he turns around takes a break and then Kyrie says it’s my turn and then goes five for five in the second quarter and giving it to him and I mean the game was over it was an embarrassment it was a disgraceful performance by the Minnesota Timberwolves but it was also an Annihilation by the Dallas Maverick’s courtesy of their two superstars in Luca donic and obviously Kyrie Irving Luca was Sensational we’re going to look at him particularly if he wins the championship and we’re going to probably be calling him the best player in the world because he will have closed I heard Kendrick Perkins earlier talking about you got to close first and I can completely agree with him because joic closed first Giannis closed first the same is applicable to Luca but if lucer ends up closing the deal and it’s a good possibility he can do it we’re going to look at last night’s performance and how he was looking at Minnesota’s bench y’all talking smack to them while he was busting ass man talking to him looking at him screaming at him calling him out on the court this ain’t after the game this a before this is while he was giving it to them and literally snatched their hearts out their chest when you talk about the greatness of the Kobes the MJS and people like that when you talk about what we were seeing from Anthony Edwards against Phoenix against Denver we saw that last night on another level from Luca donic there’s no denying it I agree I agree look that was one of the greatest performances I ever seen in NBA history and here’s why it’s not what he did it’s how he did it and Stephen A just talked about this point well not only was he giving them that work but he was talking to them while he was doing it and he wasn’t calling them good names right he was going at them people so when I think about franchise players and I think about the people that I play with this was a Kevin Garnett type mentality that Luca had right when you’re watching him I used to watch kg and I used to say man what is wrong with you before the game when he talking to himself saying oh you talking about me I don’t like you and I’m like who are you talking to he’s finding ways to get himself going where he’s like you know what I don’t like them I don’t like the people in the stands I don’t like the people that’s serving beer I embrace this atmosphere of being the villain and I’m going to walk into your house I’m going to walk into your house I’mma have muddy shoes on I’m kick my feet up on your coffee table and you’re not going to do anything about it this is what Luca dones is doing to not only the Minnesota timber woods but to the rest of the league and he’s let you know about it and he’s daring somebody to say something or do something about it because that’s going to bring the best out of him again I don’t want to jump to conclusions and say he’s the best player in the league because I said it earlier on get up I’m saying it now he has to complete the mission but I will say when when it comes to being the best offensive player in the NBA that is Luca it’s no stopping him whatsoever when he gets into his Bay okay let me set the scene here in Minneapolis what it was like yesterday okay it was a beautiful day spring is here all the leaves are out this is what you wait for in Minnesota for all the winter months okay the wolves are three and0 this year in elimination games all right the last time they played an elimination game here in Minnesota they beat the Nuggets by 45 points okay hey Chris Finch makes This brilliant adjustment to put ant Edwards on Luca donic Luca doesn’t handle real well in game four for two days everybody including me is going may maybe this switch has something going everybody shows up in white Molly there was some men wearing white jeans last night that really shouldn’t have been doing it but they were so excited about it they already had their plans for the weekend okay Saturday all day was going to be at the pool was going to be at the Lakehouse and Saturday night they were going to watch the wolves go into Dallas and play for the series in game six okay that’s what Luca walked into and five or eight minutes into that game when he hit that fourth three-pointer and Minnesota had to call another timeout and he already had 17 points in Minnesota only had eight as a team and he was screaming the only sound in that building was Luca screaming they didn’t even have the the music ready it was just quiet it was Luca screaming I’m telling you I know people make fun of me because I always bring up LeBron James but that’s my frame of reference I was transported back to that night in Boston Garden in 2012 when the when the heat were down 3-2 in that series LeBron was on The Chopping Block for maybe losing again and the first quarter Stephen A you remember LeBron killed him killed him with those jump shots I don’t remember how many he had he had like 20 but it was basically over in the first quarter that’s what Luca did he broke them he broke the fans he broke the game operations he broke the you know the spirit and he broke everybody’s plans on Saturday night he did it all and he did it in no time and man was it amazing to watch well Wendy I love that story let me piggy back off of that for two of my brothers that I love talking basketball with and break down the significance of lucer and how different it was from from LeBron despite the similarities you just touched on LeBron at that time had F had failed to have won a championship he was knocking on the door nobody expected him to beat the Spurs but the year earlier there was no excuse for losing to the Dallas Mavericks you had essentially choked in the fourth quarter of those games when JJ no disrespect but here’s the bottom line LeBron James is a 69 at the time 250 lb Mammoth of a man he’s probably a little bit bigger now all right you do not allow a JJ Bera or Jason Terry to be guarding you in the post but that’s what he did okay so that’s what happened to him in those games and coming off of losing in that NBA Finals I would refresh your memory the following Allstar Weekend if I remember correctly was when he had the ball in his hands it’s an exhibition game and you’re having fun and Kobe is guarding you and this man decides to throw the ball in the fore spee foreign [Music] fore [Music] [Music] for for spee speee fore speech for spee spee spee spee foree spee fore fore speee foree spee for fore for spee foreign speee me L te to our midd Tower is attack hey for [Music] long [Music] me don’t [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] fore [Music] foree for [Music] spee for don’t

FIRST TAKE | “Luka Doncic join for All-Time NBA GREAT” – Stephen A.: Mavericks will win NBA title