Luka Doncic just did the Unfathomable, but We've come to Expect it

Our generation has been fortuitous to arrive in a time frame where we've seen prodigal stars burst onto the scene of the different sports this world has to offer. Lionel Messi has danced his way on the pitch and into our hearts, Serena Williams is heralded as a Queen due to her almost unfair skillset, and Michael “Air” Jordan has risen, conquered and left the world wanting to be ‘just like Mike’.

However, it seems this revolving door of transcendent superstars has a new arrival, as a kid from Ljubljana, Slovenia enters with a basketball in his hand and a chip on his shoulder.

Since Luka Doncic entered the NBA he has been a top 10 player which I can tell you is something completely unfounded, even Lebron James took his time to elevate into the upper echelon of Basketball‘s elite and he was the ‘The Chosen One’.

Of the 5 years Doncic has enacted domination of the NBA, he has acclaimed 3 All-NBA first-team nods and 3 All-star appearances with both duly expected to increase at the culmination of this season, as the Slovenian is averaging just a causal 34/9/9 on 62% true shooting.

The only things missing from his already astonishing resume are an MVP and a title, but being just 23 years old, yes 23 years old he has the best part of 15 years to add the finishing touches to what is already a Hall of Fame career.

With Hall of Famers come Hall of Fame performances and didn’t Luka Doncic have one on Tuesday night, of the 76 years the National Basketball Association has existed what Doncic accomplished against the Knicks has never been seen or done before.

60 points,21 rebounds, 10 assists.

The statline deserves a paragraph on its own as the Slovenian ‘wonder boy’ as he’s heralded in his native country led the Dallas Mavericks to a 126-121 win over the New York Knicks.

As generational as the statline is, and oh boy is it generational, the incroyable part is that it doesn’t even tell the whole story.

The Mavericks were down 9 with 30 seconds left in regulation position that teams in the NBA are 0-13,884 in, so this game was meant to be a foregone conclusion and the fans should’ve begun collecting their hotdog wrappers on their way to the exit. However, with 4.3 seconds on the clock and Luka Doncic having to internationally miss his second free throw to try to level the score at 115-113, Mavs commentator Derek Harper put it best.

“Nothing shocks me about this game.”

As the buzzer beater hit around the American Airline Center emphatic cheers replaced what would’ve been the deflated sounds of a loss as Luka Doncic grabbed the rebound of his miss and with 1 second remaining put up a soft-arching floating jumper to tie the game and send it to overtime, but to Luka he thought the win was settled as after the euphoria of the shot hit its crescendo he burst out a wild assortment of dance moves which we thought he’d reserve for his well-documented escapades to Mykonos in the summer.

Nevertheless, the game was not finished and five minutes were reset on the clock for overtime. With the Knick’s capitulation in regulation, it was understandable that all momentum was lost, with the Mavericks pulling away to win 126-121.

Luka Doncic hit two free throws and a fadeaway jumper to complete the record-breaking stat line. It has never been seen before with the only ever 60pt triple-double recorded by James Harden in 2018, however, that was without the career-high 21 rebounds the 6ft7 Slovenian pulled down.

At 23 years old, Luka Doncic has already given the basketball world a Hall-of-Fame career and with 15 years left of this ‘wonderboy’ all we can do now is enjoy and absorb what is a master at work. Recognise the fact that this is a superior entity to everybody else on that court.

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