Luka Doncic may have scored 40 in game 3, but it wasn?t a good night for him or Dallas. It was a close Game 3 but ultimately the Warriors now have a 3-0 lead. The Mavericks are now one step away from elimination, while the Warriors are a step away from becoming the conference champions. Doncic got posterized by Andrew Wiggins, which added to the misery of the Slovenian despite a fine individual performance.

No team in the history of the NBA has ever overcome a 3-0 deficit. Can the Mavericks do it? The biggest onus will be on Doncic to reverse this and execute an enormous task.

He has received a lot of blame too from fans and media pundits alike. Skip Bayless has not shied away from putting the blame on Doncic for the situation Mavericks are in. However, Bayless’ co-host Shannon Sharpe came to the Slovenian forward’s defense.

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“I’m not saying Reggie Bullock needs to be Steph Curry. I’m not saying Max Kleber needs to be Nikola Jokic, but damn, can you give us some production?” he said. “Reggie, can you give us eight points? Kleber, can you give us ten?” He mentioned that they couldn’t miss against Phoenix and that minimal blame should be placed on Doncic as he is shooting well too.

Luka Doncic in Game 3

Luka Doncic has been indeed shooting well in this series. While his career average three-point shooting percentage is 34%, he has shot 47% from beyond the arc. His career free throw percentage is 74% and in this series, it has been 87%. Plus, he has an average point per game of 34.

The only problems have been his defense and the pace at which he moves the ball. Both have been inadequate. There are fans who say that he just slows down the team’s pace by dribbling, which leads to other teammates missing shots.

Reggie Bullock came up empty with 0/10 shooting. Kleber, too, hasn’t contributed much along with Dinwiddie and Powell. Only Brunson has supported Doncic adequately.

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This begs the question: Is Luka to blame for all this? Is the team just not the correct one right now for Luka to thrive? Only time can tell with these questions.