Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic. Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Luka Doncic is becoming a beast on defense

By Sai Mohan | Last updated 5/23/24

With just over a minute left in Wednesday's Game 1, Mike Conley penetrated the Dallas defense and threw up a lob for Rudy Gobert. On most occasions, Gobert would have converted on the dime from his point guard. The bucket would have tied the game and put the pressure back on the Mavericks.

But Luka Doncic had other ideas. As seen below, Doncic had the court awareness to position himself in front of Gobert, time his jump perfectly, steal the ball and start a fast break for the Mavericks. To add insult to injury, he would convert on the other end to put Dallas up by four.

WATCH LUKA DONCIC ON DEFENSE. pic.twitter.com/kbf5VwhyfD
— Esfandiar Baraheni (@JustEsBaraheni) May 23, 2024

The sequence was a microcosm of Doncic's defensive prowess for the entirety of the postseason. According to Stat Defender, the Slovenian star held players to 41.1 percent shooting as the primary defender during the first two series, which ranks the best among all players in the playoffs.

After the game, Doncic's defense earned the praise of ESPN's Tim Legler, who broke down two plays in the fourth quarter — including the aforementioned one — that swung the tide in Dallas' favor.

"This was arguably the best defensive play of his career," Legler said of Doncic disrupting Conley's lob. "This is what it takes. Your star players have to lay it on the line. Luka and Kyrie [Irving] have been doing that and that's why this was the No. 1 defense in the league the last two months of the season."

Save for lateral quickness, Doncic has always possessed the tools needed to be a good defender — positional size, strength, length and IQ.

For far too long, he didn't commit to that end of the floor the way he could have. But with each postseason run comes wisdom, and Doncic, 25, is starting to realize the importance of defense. His growth as a defender is why Dallas is seven wins away from an NBA title.

More must-reads: