Stephen A. REVEALS THIS about Luka Doncic ahead of NBA Finals 🍿 | First Take

Stephen A 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 wior 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 Luka donic and the Mavericks buried the Wolves 124 103 last night to reach the NBA Finals Don scored 21 of his 36 points in the first quarter and Dallas built a 29p 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 six 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 against them uh just stay together um but that feeling that feeling is great where 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 notch 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 had to pay for that 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 03 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 pause 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 timber wolves but it was also an Annihilation by the Dallas Maverick's courtesy of their two superstars in Luca donic and obviously Kyrie Irvin 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 completely agree with him because joic closed first Giannis closed first the same is applicable to Luca but if Luca 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 ain't before this is while he was giving it to them and literally snatch 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've 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 where 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 Garnet type mentality that Luca has right well you're watching him I used to watch k 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'mma kick my feet up on your coffee table and you're not going to do do anything about it this is what Luca dones is doing to not only the Minnesota timberwoods but to the rest of the league and he's letting 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 it comes to being the best offensive player in the NBA that is Luc it's no stopping them whatsoever 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 and 0 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 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 lake house 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 walk 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 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 the spirit and he broke everybody's plan 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 piggyback 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 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 pound mammoth of a man he's probably a little bit bigger now all right you do not allow a JJ B 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 throw the ball in the corner to Carmelo and turns the ball over to the point where Carmelo Kobe and D Wade all walked over to get in his face what you pass the ball for what's the matter with you take that shot it you know because it was an exhibition game what is your problem he was that mentally warped so then he goes into Boston and he looks like a man possessed so you got all of these demons the choking the being scared and all of this stuff that he was being accused of and he had to overcome those demons that ain't Luca Luca's proven a long time ago he Ain had that problem he's proven a long time ago he's a closer his attitude was his attitude was different his attitude was different big perk Luca went in there and he heard what Jaden McDaniel said he heard what Anthony Edward said before the season he heard Minnesota chirping like y'all had done something and he said yo we up three 0 we had a mulligan we you know y'all got us in game four you escape with that one and now y'all chirping like this yo kai I'mma give you yours but I need you to move out the way PJ and Gafford and lot of yo y'all I I I need y'all to move out the way I'mma bust these boys ass right here right now I'mma give it to them I'mma humble them I'm going to ruin their entire off seon because I'm going to leave them with a memory they ain't going to be able to shake the entire offseason because they opened their damn mouths that's the difference between what LeBron said what LeBron did rather and what Luca did last night do you agree I do oh I agree 100% I agree 100% and here's the here's the best thing about Luca he he's trying to bring opponent pain he wants you to feel pain he want to tell you about it and he wants you to feel it he wants you to lose sleep at night they're going to remember look Minnesota had a successful season I was wrong I thought Minnesota was going to win game five in great fashion and they were heading back to uh Dallas for a game six Luca stood on business and did exactly what a franchise guy a guy that's getting paid big bucks supposed to do come into that game on the road and set the tone I mean look I was sitting there and I couldn't even say nothing when I was watching the game last night I was speechless literally I was speechless and I was in awe I just had to applaud him he made Minnesota tap out he made them tap out he made them start doing uncharacteristic type things he started making them play selfish basketball because they was trying to get back into the game they just have zero answer they had a zero answer for Luca nobody in the league could stop Luca the only person that could stop Luca is Luca absolutely and I'll leave you guys with this Luca is the first player in postseason history to lead the playoffs in points rebounds and assists entering the finals [Music]

Channel: ESPN

Views: 796,747

Keywords: Stephen A. Smith, Stephen A., Stephen A. Smith First Take, First Take, First Take ESPN, First Take Stephen A. Smith, First Take Stephen A., Stephen A Smith, Stephen A Smith First Take, Stephen A First Take, Molly Qerim, Molly Qerim First Take, ESPN First Take, Kendrick Perkins, Kendrick Perkins First Take, Brian Windhorst, Brian Windhorst First Take, NBA on ESPN, Dallas Mavericks, Luka Doncic, Luka Doncic Mavs, Luka Doncic Mavericks, Mavericks vs Timberwolves, NBA Finals

Id: BXnLgvJ9awI

Length: 12min 56sec (776 seconds)

Published: Fri May 31 2024