Will Luka Dončić’s 'case of the flops' cost the Mavs the NBA championship tonight?

The Dallas Mavericks have now lost three consecutive games to the Boston Celtics in the 2024 NBA finals. If Boston wins tonight, the hopes of an NBA championship, which hasn’t happened since 2011, are dashed for Mavs fans.

NBA sports writer Brian Windhorst pointed at the Mav’s all-star point guard, Luka Dončić, as the reason the team has not prevailed against the Celtics.

“His defensive performance is unacceptable. He is a hole on the court ... [The Celtics] are ahead in this series because they have attacked [Dončić] defensively,” Windhorst reported, adding that Dončić is also “costing the team because of how he treats the officials.”

Windhorst even went as far as saying that Dončić is “the reason why the Mavericks are not going to win” the series.

“There were some uncalled fouls in that game that could’ve gone Luka’s way,” says Blaze Media’s sports expert Jason Whitlock. However, he also acknowledges that the superstar is guilty of “flopping,” “[baiting the referees],” and “trying to draw all these fouls.”

“Luka Dončić has an acute case of the flops,” he says, playing a clip of the athlete’s dramatic tumbles from the last game.

Jay Skapinac, the voice behind Skap Attack agrees.

“Luka came into the series with a lot of shine on him,” he tells Jason. “It looked like he was getting ready to insinuate himself into that best player in the world type conversation in my estimation.”

However, in light of the last three games, “there is no denying that Luca has been absolutely pitiful throughout the course of this series.”

What’s strange is that “many would take a look at just the raw box score and say 30 points per game, nine rebounds a game, six assists, two and a half steals, 47% and think what a great series this guy's playing.”

According to Jay, however, Luka is “unmitigated trash whenever it matters most in the fourth quarters,” which is evidenced by the fact that he’s shot “three of 15 in the fourth quarters” of the last three matches and was “loafing up and down the court on defense.”

“This guy is the European LeBron James,” he criticizes.

To hear the rest of the conversation and predictions for tonight’s match, watch the clip below.

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